Are energy drinks a pathway to Ice/amphetamines?

[stui magpie]

I've long held the theory that Energy drinks are basically a gateway or pathway drug to amphetamine usage and particularly now, Ice.

This stuff is a multi billion dollar industry and is marketed to kids/teens in a way that is reminiscent of the snake oil salesmen of the 19th century.

The pattern goes something like this.

Kid starts skipping breakfast and relying on energy drinks for a pick me up.

This then extends to skipping lunch and relying on more energy drinks.

After a while, seriously bad dietary habits are formed and the previous buzz from the energy drinks is no longer a buzz, it's necessary to function normally. 8-10 energy drinks are required per day to just feel "normal" which is expensive. More expensive than Ice which, at first, lasts longer and gives that buzz back that the energy drinks used to give.

Then the spiral starts.

I've personally observed this pattern a few times and discussed it with someone who was an Ice addict very recently and they agreed with my observations.

I'm not suggesting that Energy drinks be banned or that they are the only or even primary pathway. There's a lot of things that can play a role.

So I ask the question, what, if any has been your experience?

Is there any research into this? The multi nationals that produce this poison wouldn't like it so I doubt there is.

Does anyone know of an Ice user who wasn't a heavy user of energy drinks prior to starting on Ice?

I think this shit is dangerous and should be regulated in the same way as Alcohol and tobacco is and not be able to be sold to kids.

Thoughts?

[HAL]

Try to rephrase your question with simpler words.

[Tannin]

Sounds reasonable Stui. But they are a major menace in themselves.

[stui magpie]

When you've got primary school age kids buying them on the way to/from school, they're a much larger menace than fast food.

[The Prototype]

I still do not get the appeal of them, so many bad things in them. I wouldn't be surprised if they lead to drugs though.

[watt price tully]

[stui magpie]

^

Do you know if anyone is collecting data on that, for research purposes? Surely that's the kind of info that the Ice taskforce should be looking at?

[think positive]

Energy drinks, alcopops, all bad news, give kids a buzz before they are ready to handle the responsibility of it. And they can advertise them as if they are good for you. Both my kids tried them, so did I. Luckily, in this house we all (even hubby now!) are into treating our body as a machine, and food as fuel. They are bad news. I see too many kids slumping them down non stop. Don't they stick something like aspirin in them to get an even bigger buzz?

Mind you I feel the same about ADHD drugs. Too easy to swap them for something else when they get older. There must be a better way.

[David]

I hear what you're saying, but I reckon this whole theory of gateway drugs is a bit problematic to say the least. It surely goes without saying that most people who use energy drinks don't get hooked on them and most people who take them regularly don't move onto ice.

This is the case with all so-called 'gateway drugs'. We say that weed is a gateway to heroin, but why don't we say that alcohol is a gateway to weed? Or that partying is a gateway to alcoholism, or that social interaction with other human beings is a gateway to 'party culture'? Or coffee to energy drinks, or hot chocolate to coffee? The point is, you can do this with just about any combination of slightly related phenomena you like. To throw the label of 'gateway drug' at, say, marijuana or energy drinks is purely selective reasoning both in terms of what is being focused on and at what point the 'gate' is set.

Where you might see patterns is looking at ice users and seeing a history of energy drink consumption. But it's a common fallacy to see that as evidence of causation, or a 'gateway'. If it shows anything, it's much more likely might be that use of ice and energy drinks are both symptomatic of the same basic problems, like, say, fatigue, or boredom, or the desire for some kind of 'high', or whatever it is that leads people to self-medicate. If that's the case, then treating energy drinks as a 'gateway' (or worse, a gateway drug that needs to be restricted or taxed) is the wrong approach, because you're making it a scapegoat for the underlying social problems that really need to be dealt with.

That's not to say that energy drinks are good for you, mind you. They're pretty horrible (and I'm always joking about killing myself slowly whenever I have them). What I'm trying to say is that they should be dealt with on their own merits, not as some sinister gateway to worse drugs.

[watt price tully]

[HAL]

What if it didn't happen?

[Tannin]

[think positive]

Yeah I guess David it goes up there with junk food full stop. Should you regulate people killing themselves with crap?

I have a niece who is now 19, she is morbidly obese, she is depressed, undoubtably unhealthy, and she started gaining at about 7 or 8, and it skyrocketed. Her fathers family (her mum is hubbies sister) have a lot of morbidly obese members. I remember years and years ago she asked my other sister in law for advice. When she was told maybe take her to a dietitian she replied horrified "I can't do that, then I'm making her think there is a problem". Well honey there was, and is. I remember this kid scoffing down chocolate mud cake like there was no tomorrow. She still does it. My point being don't have too much crap around the house when kids are young, lead by example (the mother loves her chocolate mud cake too). I see a lot of mums getting through the day of energy drinks and coffee, been guilty of both myself. Kids learn from what's around them.

So do you regulate McDonald's, energy drinks, or my personal "drug" Caramello koalas, or not? Where does personal responsibility come into it?

[Tannin]

Different questions, TP.

Junk food kills you.

Energy drinks kill other people as well.

It doesn't go up there with junk food, it goes up there with ice, alcohol, guns, and dangerous driving.

Before energy drinks came along, young people got drunk, felt sleepy, passed out. Fairly harmless on the whole. Now, young people get drunk, spike themselves up with energy drinks, get hyper, drink even more, spike themselves up more, and remain violently active even when they have drunk enough to put most people away with the fairies.

With alcohol alone, a nasty drunk can't be too drunk or he passes out. Yep, he can still do a lot of damage, but the drunker he gets, the less capable he is of hurting you. By the time he has drunk away all his social inhibitions and lost all his judgment, he's asleep. With energy drinks, not so.

Ban the %&^%&$� things!

[think positive]