A new energy drink named Cocaine is nothing to sniff at, declared some City Council members who want to keep the caffeinated concoction out of the
city.
The drink has generated controversy because of its name and high caffeine content. Its creator boasts that the knocks from around the country are
boosting his sales.
Several Council members, led by James Sanders Jr. (D-Queens), called for a boycott of the drink yesterday at a news conference outside City Hall.
"There are only two reasons that you would seek to use this infamous and insidious name to market your so-called energy drink - either you are
woefully ignorant of the horrors of cocaine addiction or your god is the dollar bill," Sanders said of the drink's maker and merchandiser, James Kirby
of Redux Beverages, headquartered in Las Vegas.
Sanders and two other Council members and an assemblyman, all African-Americans, said their communities have enough problems with real drugs without
youths being encouraged to think it's cool to drink "Cocaine."
Redux claims its drink has 350% more caffeine than Red Bull, and that it provides an "instant rush, no crash."
Cocaine contains 280 milligrams of caffeine in its slim 8.2-ounce can.
Health experts say consuming 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine a day isn't harmful
