Cocaine (drink)
Encyclopedia
Cocaine is a highly caffeinated
Caffeine
Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants...

 energy drink
Energy drink
Energy drinks are beverages whose producers advertise that they "boost energy." These advertisements usually do not emphasize energy derived from the sugar and caffeine they contain but rather increased energy release due to a variety of stimulants and vitamins....

 distributed by Redux Beverages. It contains more caffeine than rival energy drinks Red Bull
Red Bull
Red Bull is an energy drink sold by the Austrian Red Bull GmbH, created in 1987 by the Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz. In terms of market share, Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the world, with 3 billion cans sold each year. Dietrich Mateschitz was inspired by an already...

 and Rockstar, symbolized by three and a half steer heads on the label. Aside from caffeine, the label claims 750 milligrams of taurine, another common ingredient found in many energy drinks.

History

Cocaine was pulled from U.S. shelves as a result of the FDA
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...

's decision that Cocaine "was illegally marketing the drink as both a street drug alternative and a dietary supplement". Redux Beverages began working on a new name for the product immediately. At the end of May, 2007, the Redux team decided to change the name to "No Name:" energy drink, with the new can label (sometimes still with the original can just covered by a plastic sleeve with the new name, allowing it to be peeled off revealing the old one) featuring a large blank space for fans to write their chosen name for the drink, covering the "Cocaine" on the can itself. On 17 June 2007, the drink was redistributed in the U.S. under the new labeling.

However, Redux Beverages has recently announced that the drink will return to shelves under its original name in early 2008. Cocaine is currently being sold as "Cocaine" and can be found on the shelves of many stores around the U.S.with a side label stating, "WARNING: This message is for the people who are too stupid to recognize the obvious. This product does not contain cocaine. This product is not intended to be an alternative to an illicit street drug, and anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot."

The drink is available online and in local beverage stores around the U.S. The beverage is also available in Europe, where it has always been sold as Cocaine Energy Drink rather than "Cocaine": (as it was briefly sold in the U.S). According to Cocaine's official website, the drink is now being sold in three varieties: one being Original, one being "Cut" (which lacks the purported "throat-burning" sensation of Original), and one being "Free", which contains no sugar. However, on July 9, 2008 Redux Beverages received a FDA Warning Letter
FDA Warning Letter
The United States Food and Drug Adminstration defines a Warning Letter as "...a correspondence that notifies regulated industry about violations that FDA has documented during its inspections or investigations...

indicating that they had objection to the fonts that Redux licensed for the front of their product Cocaine Energy Supplement. The fonts in question have been removed from production and will be replaced with new fonts. In addition to the fonts, they have also removed the term Cut from the mild version of the supplement and have replaced it with a blue can.

Ingredients

The ingredients are as follows: Carbonated Water, Dextrose, Citric Acid, Taurine, Caffeine, Natural Flavors, Sodium Citrate, D-Ribose, Salt, Sodium Benzoate, Inositol, Ascorbic Acid(Vitamin C), Sucralose, L-Carnitine, Potassium Sorbate, Guarana Seed Extract, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12) and Red 40.

External links

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