AFP news agency is reporting that Hong Kong officials have found traces of the illegal stimulant cocaine in cans of Red Bull Cola, a few days after Taiwanese authorities confiscated almost 18,000 cases of the so-called energy drink.
The Centre for Food Safety apparently found traces of cocaine at levels of 0.1-0.3 micrograms per liter, which is well below safety limits.
Cocaine (benzoylmethyl ecgonine) is a tropane alkaloid found in the leaves of the coca plant. It affects the brain’s mesolimbic reward pathway and so is an addictive. It acts as a central nervous system stimulant as well as an appetite suppressant. Its mode of action is as a dopamine reuptake inhibitor, a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor and a serotonin reuptake inhibitor.
The use of the drug has been illegal for non-medicinal and non-government sanctioned purposes in virtually all parts of the world for decades. However, back in the early days of the Coca Cola company, one of the not-so-secret ingredients of that sugary beverage was, you guessed it, cocaine, a fact that has become part of cokelore.
Indeed, the name Coca Cola was derived in 1885 from the two physiologically active ingredients added by the manufacturers to their tonic: coca leaf extract and kola nut extract. Exactly how much cocaine was present in the original formula for Coca Cola is not known. By law, Coca Cola and other beverages, including Red Bull, cannot contain cocaine.
Drinks manufacturers, however, were always cutting it fine when one (Redux Beverages) marketed the brand drink “Speed in a Can“, “Liquid Cocaine”, and “Cocaine – Instant Rush” in 2006. They claimed that these drinks had no actual cocaine but provided a rush that rival caffeine and sugar drinks such as Red Bull couldn’t beat.
But, in May German authorities allegedly identified small amounts of cocaine present in Red Bull. Surely, the manufacturer wasn’t trying to compete with a quasi-drug brand?
More Bull News
- You: Red Bull’s New Cola: A Kick from Cocaine? (time.com)
- Traces of cocaine found in Red Bull in Hong Kong (beinghealthyhomeandaway.blogspot.com)
- Trace Amounts of Cocaine Found In Red Bull (manolith.com)
- Germany Bans Red Bull for Containing Cocaine (blippitt.com)
- Cocaine Test Prompts Red Bull Removal In Germany (news.slashdot.org)
- Cocaine found in Red Bull? (boingboing.net)
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