(WBNG Binghamton) Have you heard of Four Loko? If you're a parent of a high-school or college age student, your kids probably have. It's an alcoholic energy drink growing in popularity.
As Action News reporter Matt Markham tells us, it will soon be hard to find around here.
If you hear someone talking about blackout in a can, liquid cocaine, or they're "loco for loko," they're talking about Four Loko.
It's an energy drink with the equivalent of four beers, a lot of caffeine, and a lot of serious consequences.
Many college kids are experimenting with it.
"I guess it does the job very quickly as they say," said Rodney Nassimian, a Binghamton University senior. The job he's talking about is "the job I mean they can get drunk much faster then usually with the beers and everything."
"It gets them really really trashed really really quickly," said Brendan Berry, also a senior at BU. "So then they can go downtown and you know, do the things people do there."
Four Loko is relatively easy to find. It's sold at convenience stores and beer distributors. But, if any of them have the beverage now, once it's out, they're not getting anymore.
The producer of Four Loko has agreed to stop shipping the drink to New York. Senator Charles Schumer has been pushing for the ban.
"They seem to be marketing it to underage kids, and it's dangerous, and those kids don't know it," Sen. Schumer (D -- NY) said.
"We've seen a high incidence of youth taking it because it's so cheap and it looks like an energy drink," said Bridget McCane-Saunders, associate director of Health Education at BU. "So, parents might not even realize that a young person would have one of these malt beverages."
For $2.50 a can, kids see a high-energy good time. Sometimes, they get a lot more than they bargained for.
Retailers have until December 10th to clear their inventories of Four Loko. Michigan and Oklahoma have banned the sale of the drink.
There are about forty other alcoholic energy drinks still for sale.
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