New Booze Gets Youth Buzzed

An increasing number of alcohol producers are making it easier for young people to get drunk and wired at the same time. In October, Anheuser-Busch rolled out Be ("B-to-the-E")-caffeinated beer infused with ginseng and guarana extract. This year, Jim Beam and youth-friendly Starbucks partnered to produce Starbucks Coffee Liqueur. Now, Patron Spirits Company has caffeinated Coffee Liqueur Tequila, and Wingard recently released Everglo-a lime-green blend of vodka and tequila infused with caffeine.

Mixing two drugs like caffeine and alcohol together makes for a scary concoction-especially when underage drinking accounts for approximately 10 percent of the alcohol market, or $10 billion annually. 1 According to the University of California, Davis, Cowell Student Health Center, "caffeine is the most widely consumed, mood-altering drug in the world and consumption is on the rise among American youth." 2 The Center found that, "nearly 80 percent of adults begin their caffeine consumption patterns when they are teens and young adults." Likewise, the average age at which American children first consume alcohol is 12. 3 Youth consumption is critical to the alcohol market because it sets the stage for long-term adult drinking habits. 4 Offering alcoholic beverages with caffeine is a sure way for the industry to get young people hooked fast.

1. American Medical Association, Office of Alcohol and other Drug Abuse. Special Report: The Alcohol Industry: Partner or Foe?, April 2002. www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/388/partner_foe_brief.pdf
2. University of California Davis, Cowell Student Health Center http://healthcenter.ucdavis.edu/topics/caffeine.html
3. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), National Survey of Drug Use and Health, 2002.
4 . See source one.