Should the sale of high-caffeine drinks be banned from schools?

[CBC News]

A high school in Prince Edward Island is asking the provincial government to ban the sale of high-caffeine drinks because students are drinking them at unhealthy levels.
Similar bans have been raised in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, where schools would like to keep the drinks off of school property. In Michigan, a Republican lawmaker said last month he would sponsor a bill outlawing the sale of energy drinks to minors.
In Souris, P.E.I., a CBC television reporter spoke with several students who said they downed the caffeinated drinks with the regularity many adults save for coffee.
"It gets you going in the morning," said one young man. "I drink it pretty much just for the energy rush," added Grade 9 student Malcolm Coady.
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What do you think? Should the sale of high-caffeine drinks be banned from schools?


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[#juan]

Yes, I think these stupid drinks should be banned. I have a nephew who drinks this a lot of this junk and he ends up with the personality and metabolism of a gerbil.



http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=gCxW_C4biP8

 

[Scott Free]

You bet. Anything teenagers enjoy should be banned. Just by definition because they enjoy them they must be bad. Never mind that teenagers find it nearly impossible to keep early morning schedules.

Coffee should be banned for anyone under 30!

idiots

 

[karrie]

lol... oh my gawd... if the worst thing my kid is doing in high school is drinking caffeinated beverages, I'll be thrilled. Tell people to parent their damn kids, teach them to limit their intake of stuff that's bad for them, and call it good.

 

[Kreskin]

If I heard correctly, one of those small energy drinks is the caffeine equivalent to about 12 regular coffees. I haven't tried one but it sounds like they can screw you up pretty good. I suppose you'ld get the 30 minute high and shakes then spend the next 4 hours trying to stay awake.

 

[Scott Free]

Caffeine doesn't even have an affect on people who's adrenal gland hasn't started atrophying yet. Any effect young people might feel is mostly placebo anyway.

 

[karrie]

If I heard correctly, one of those small energy drinks is the caffeine equivalent to about 12 regular coffees. I haven't tried one but it sounds like they can screw you up pretty good. I suppose you'ld get the 30 minute high and shakes then spend the next 4 hours trying to stay awake.

No, it's more like MAYBE 5 times that of a coffee. They're marketed this way though Kreskin, marketed as 'bad' and 'dangerous'.... not on tv, but, you can guarantee that these companies are funding half this bad buzz so that teenagers, the sector of the buying market with the biggest sweet tooth and most disposable cash, will think they're badasses for drinking them.

 

[duncandonut]

If I heard correctly, one of those small energy drinks is the caffeine equivalent to about 12 regular coffees. I haven't tried one but it sounds like they can screw you up pretty good. I suppose you'ld get the 30 minute high and shakes then spend the next 4 hours trying to stay awake.

I would like to know where you got this information, because a there are many diffferent energy drinks out on the market. but the caffeine content usually averages aprox. 80mg to 160mg to put that in prepective the average caffeine content of 250ml of drip coffee (coffee from regular coffee machine) is about 120 mg. This is obviously not factoring in the effects of the other ingredients. But from personal experience I would say that one energy drink (lets make it Rockstar) is anywhere from 2 to 3 cups of coffee (cups = 250ml)

 

[duncandonut]

The only thing i would reccomend (which can be found on the back of the can) is that caffeine sensitive people should not take the drink. And you should not take them before exercise, because its not good for your heart.

as for the sale in schools, i don't believe its going to be a big problem because they mark up the price so much that no one really buys them (one vending machine in my school has one it costs 4$, which is expensive, just stick to coffee kids its a lot cheaper)