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Cocaine’ drink yanked from shelves nationwide
Company plans to rebrand the energy beverage after FDA complaints
David Mcnew / Getty Images file
According to the makers of Cocaine — which will soon be renamed — the drink provides its cocaine-like energy boost by containing more caffeine than any other energy drink.
View related photos Video
'Cocaine' yanked from store shelves
May 8: A controversial energy drink called 'Cocaine' is pulled from store shelves. MSNBC.com's Dara Brown reports.
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Updated: 8:43 a.m. MT May 8, 2007
An energy drink called Cocaine has been from pulled from stores nationwide amid concerns about its name, the company that produces it said Monday.
Clegg Ivey, a partner in Redux Beverages LLC of Las Vegas, said the company plans to sell the drink under a new name for now.
The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter last month that said Redux was illegally marketing the drink as a street drug alternative and a dietary supplement. May 4 was the deadline for the company to respond.
Story continues below ↓
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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The FDA cited as evidence the drink’s labeling and Web site, which included the statements “Speed in a Can,” “Liquid Cocaine” and “Cocaine — Instant Rush.” The company says Cocaine contains no drugs and is marketed as an energy drink. It has been sold since last August in at least a dozen states.
“Of course, we intended for Cocaine energy drink to be a legal alternative the same way that celibacy is an alternative to premarital sex,” Ivey said. “It’s not the same thing and no one thinks it is. Our product doesn’t have any cocaine in it. No one thinks that it does. We think it is most likely legal in the United States to ship our product.”
Ivey said the FDA did not order the company to stop marketing the drink, but officials were concerned about possible legal action. They will announce a new name within a week and hope to have the product back on store shelves within a few weeks.
“What we would like to do is continue to fight to keep the name because it’s clearly the name that’s the problem,” Ivey said. “What we can’t do is distribute our product when regulators in the states and the FDA are saying that if you do this, you could go to jail.”
Attorneys general in Connecticut and Illinois recently announced that Redux had agreed to stop marketing Cocaine in those states, while a judge in Texas has halted distribution there.
‘Down the drain’
“Our goal is to literally flush Cocaine down the drain across the nation,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who announced the company’s agreement with his state Monday. “Our main complaint about Cocaine is its name and marketing strategy seeking to glorify illegal drug use and exploit the allure of marketing ’Speed in a Can,’ as it called the product.”
The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection pulled 300 cases of Cocaine from state stores on April 23, saying Redux Beverages did not license the product as required by law.
As part of the agreement, Connecticut distributors and retailers can return unused product to Redux for a full refund.
An FDA spokeswoman said she could not comment because the matter is still pending.
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Fans responded to the announcement that Redux would stop marketing Cocaine by leaving dozens of messages, many of them profanity-laced, on a page created for the product on the social networking site MySpace.com.
The energy drink is the first product marketed by Redux, which wants to keep the name Cocaine because it fits with the company’s tongue-in-cheek approach, Ivey said.
“We like to think we have a great sense of humor,” he said. “And our market, primarily folks from ages 20 to 30, they love the ideas, they love the name, they love the whole campaign. These are not drug users.”
Cocaine’ drink yanked from shelves nationwide
Company plans to rebrand the energy beverage after FDA complaints
David Mcnew / Getty Images file
According to the makers of Cocaine — which will soon be renamed — the drink provides its cocaine-like energy boost by containing more caffeine than any other energy drink.
View related photos Video
'Cocaine' yanked from store shelves
May 8: A controversial energy drink called 'Cocaine' is pulled from store shelves. MSNBC.com's Dara Brown reports.
MSNBC.com
Message boards
Share your experiences — and best tips
Most Popular
• Most Viewed • Top Rated • Most E-mailed
6 held on terror conspiracy charges in N.J.
Researchers say they’ve found Herod’s tomb
Drug dealers peddling new kid-friendly mixes
‘Cocaine’ drink yanked from shelves nationwide
Cost of war: Why we don't feel the financial pain
Most viewed on MSNBC.com
Police Destroy Kiosks in Somali Capital
WRAPUP 3-Two suicide car bombs kill 25 near Iraq's Ramadi
Car Bombing Kills 16 in Shiite City
U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq at 3,376
Israeli-Arab Peacemaking Efforts Set
Most viewed on MSNBC.com
Drug dealers peddling new kid-friendly mixes
Researchers say they’ve found Herod’s tomb
Farmed fish given meal tainted with melamine
6 held on terror conspiracy charges in N.J.
‘Cocaine’ drink yanked from shelves nationwide
Most viewed on MSNBC.com
Top celebrity trainers offer their advice
Diet and fitness videos
Kessler: 'Food safety system is broken'
May 2: As former FDA Commissioner David Kessler decries the current food safety system, NBC's Tom Costello reports that as many as three million chickens and six thousand pigs fed tainted food may have already been eaten by Americans.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tainted chicken enters food supply
The skinny on fat substitutes
Sweet summer smoothies
Super beauty foods
RSS feeds on msnbc.com
Add these headlines to your news reader
Fitness
Learn more about RSS
Updated: 8:43 a.m. MT May 8, 2007
An energy drink called Cocaine has been from pulled from stores nationwide amid concerns about its name, the company that produces it said Monday.
Clegg Ivey, a partner in Redux Beverages LLC of Las Vegas, said the company plans to sell the drink under a new name for now.
The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter last month that said Redux was illegally marketing the drink as a street drug alternative and a dietary supplement. May 4 was the deadline for the company to respond.
Story continues below ↓
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The FDA cited as evidence the drink’s labeling and Web site, which included the statements “Speed in a Can,” “Liquid Cocaine” and “Cocaine — Instant Rush.” The company says Cocaine contains no drugs and is marketed as an energy drink. It has been sold since last August in at least a dozen states.
“Of course, we intended for Cocaine energy drink to be a legal alternative the same way that celibacy is an alternative to premarital sex,” Ivey said. “It’s not the same thing and no one thinks it is. Our product doesn’t have any cocaine in it. No one thinks that it does. We think it is most likely legal in the United States to ship our product.”
Ivey said the FDA did not order the company to stop marketing the drink, but officials were concerned about possible legal action. They will announce a new name within a week and hope to have the product back on store shelves within a few weeks.
“What we would like to do is continue to fight to keep the name because it’s clearly the name that’s the problem,” Ivey said. “What we can’t do is distribute our product when regulators in the states and the FDA are saying that if you do this, you could go to jail.”
Attorneys general in Connecticut and Illinois recently announced that Redux had agreed to stop marketing Cocaine in those states, while a judge in Texas has halted distribution there.
‘Down the drain’
“Our goal is to literally flush Cocaine down the drain across the nation,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who announced the company’s agreement with his state Monday. “Our main complaint about Cocaine is its name and marketing strategy seeking to glorify illegal drug use and exploit the allure of marketing ’Speed in a Can,’ as it called the product.”
The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection pulled 300 cases of Cocaine from state stores on April 23, saying Redux Beverages did not license the product as required by law.
As part of the agreement, Connecticut distributors and retailers can return unused product to Redux for a full refund.
An FDA spokeswoman said she could not comment because the matter is still pending.
Don't miss this on MSNBC.com health
Best — and worst — diet strategies
Is cosmetic surgery a good gift for grads?
‘Cocaine’ drink yanked from shelves nationwide
Too many babies are teeny TV watchers
Fans responded to the announcement that Redux would stop marketing Cocaine by leaving dozens of messages, many of them profanity-laced, on a page created for the product on the social networking site MySpace.com.
The energy drink is the first product marketed by Redux, which wants to keep the name Cocaine because it fits with the company’s tongue-in-cheek approach, Ivey said.
“We like to think we have a great sense of humor,” he said. “And our market, primarily folks from ages 20 to 30, they love the ideas, they love the name, they love the whole campaign. These are not drug users.”
