Posted in ALL news, tagged 'Cocaine', 250ml can, 280mg, 80mg, a city councillor, abhorrent, actual cocaine, addiction, adhered, advertised, alcohol, ALL news, amount, appealing, attention, attracting, Australia, Australian version, boycott of the drink., caffeine, caffeine in Cocaine, cans, cans contained, certain group.", Cocaine Energy Drink, complaints, comply, concentration, condemned, contains, controversial, controversial name, correct, correct labelling, councillor James Sanders, criticised, cynical tactic, David Raynes, despicable, distributors, dollar bill.", drink, Drug, Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia, energy, energy drink, exploiting drugs, exploiting illegal drugs, Food Standards Australia, god, horrors, ignorant, illegal, illegal in Australia, image, infamous, insidious name, John Mancini, labelling, launch., legal, legal alternative, local, manufacturer, market, marketing ploy, Mr Raynes, New York, New Zealand, news.com.au., of cocaine, originally, overseas, own benefit., Paul Dillon, people, per can, product, public, pulled, quick buck, Red Bull, regulations, research, returned, sale, several, shelves, shipments, so-called, sold, spokeswoman, stronger, Sydney's western suburbs., synonymous, Targeted, targeted young people, temporarily, the product, the US and, trading, Training Australia, uk, UK National Drug Prevention Alliance, US, versions, Wize Distributors, woefully, young on June 4, 2009|
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A CONTROVERSIAL energy drink called ‘Cocaine’ and billed overseas as being more than three times stronger than Red Bull has gone on sale in Australia.
While the drink does not contain any actual cocaine, the US and UK versions have 280mg of caffeine for every 250ml can – a concentration that is illegal in Australia and New Zealand.
Local distributors say Cocaine Energy Drink is being targeted at young people in a marketing ploy that has been roundly condemned overseas. 
“Cocaine is synonymous with energy,” John Mancini from Wize Distributors told news.com.au.
“People over 30 or 40 have got a different view (of the word), but to anyone between 16 and 30, they go ‘I’ll try that’.”
But Paul Dillon from Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia said it was abhorrent that people were trading on such a controversial name.
“I find it despicable that people are importing these sorts of products,” Mr Dillon said
“I think what the public have to realise is that these people are all about making a quick buck.
“Something like this that is out there attracting attention is going to be more appealing for a certain group.”
Over the past fortnight, several shipments of the drink – originally advertised as a legal alternative to drug of the same name – have arrived from New Zealand and cans are being sold across Sydney’s western suburbs.
The Australian version of the drink contains just 80mg of caffeine per can to comply with regulations.
A spokeswoman for Food Standards Australia said that as long as the amount of caffeine in Cocaine adhered to regulations and the cans contained correct labelling, the product was legal.
The spokeswoman for Food Standards Australia said that as long as the amount of caffeine in Cocaine adhered to regulations and the cans contained correct labelling, the product was legal..
At the time New York, a city councillor called for a boycott of the drink.
“There are only two reasons that you would seek to use this infamous and insidious name to market your so-called energy drink,” councillor James Sanders said. “Either you are woefully ignorant of the horrors of cocaine addiction, or your god is the dollar bill.”
David Raynes from the UK National Drug Prevention Alliance also criticised the manufacturer soon after the launch.
“It is people exploiting drugs,” Mr Raynes said. “It is a pretty cynical tactic exploiting illegal drugs for their own benefit.
“The fact is that subliminally, it is making the image of drug use cool and that’s what kids what to be, cool.”
The drink was temporarily pulled from shelves in the US after complaints, but has since returned to sale.
www.news.com.au
My Comment :
What ever next !
I would like to see the government take it off the market.
The Distributors are saying ” Don’t do the drug – Do the drink ”
I say Don’t do either
What a bloody ridiculous name for a drink.
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Australian share market opens higher
Posted in Political News, tagged $1.15 billion, $16.01, $20.48, $22.00 Westpac up 10 cents, $34.26, $36.40, $65.46, (AEST), 0.23 per cent, 0.31 per cent, 0.60 per cent, 10.15am, 12.1 points, 14 cents, 15 per cent, 20 cents, 3889.3, 4.41 per cent, 4cents, 50.34 points, 8.7 points, ANZ, asess, Average, banks, Ben Bernanke, benchmark, BHP, broader, capital, cash, cash return, comments, Commonwealth Bank, contracts., deficit., down, earnings, efforts, equity, Exchange, Federal Budget, Federal Reserve chairman, firms, five cents, four, gained, gains, generating, higher, Industrial, investors, long rally, lost, lower, lucky, major, March, marginally, Mining giant, mixed finish, mixed lead, morning trade, mulled, NAB, new, open, opened, opening, Ordinaries, over, paused, points higher, Political News, quarter, raise, reassuring, reported, Resources, Rio Tinto, rival, S&P/ASX200, settle, share market, share price index contract, stronger, Sydney Futures, The Dow Jones, to 3872.3., Tuesday, up, US trade, volume, Wall Street, was up, wobbled on May 13, 2009| Leave a Comment »
At 10.15am (AEST), the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 12.1 points, or 0.31 per cent, at 3889.3, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 8.7 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 3872.3.
The four major banks were mostly higher at the open.
ANZ gained 4cents to $16.01, NAB was up 14 cents at $22.00 and Westpac was up 10 cents at $20.48.
The Commonwealth Bank, which reported cash earnings for the March quarter of about $1.15 billion, generating a cash return on equity of over 15 per cent, was down 20 cents at $36.40.
Resources weren’t as lucky, opening lower in morning trade.
Mining giant BHP was down five cents at $34.26, while rival Rio Tinto lost 4.41 per cent to $65.46.
Wall Street wobbled to a mixed finish on Tuesday as investors paused to assess gains from a long rally and mulled the new efforts to raise capital by banks and other firms.
The markets also digested better-than-expected data on the US trade deficit and reassuring comments from Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, about the health of the banking system.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 50.34 points, or 0.60 per cent, to settle at 8,469.11.
The tech-dominated Nasdaq dropped 15.32 points, or 0.88 per cent, to 1715.92 while the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 0.89 point, or 0.1 per cent, to settle at 908.35.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the June share price index contract was trading 17 points higher at 3885 on volume of 4900 contracts.
www.news.com.au
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