'Cocaine' still found in state despite recall

If you need a fix, you can still score some "Cocaine" in Bridgeport.

The drink dubbed Cocaine was still available in several city stores, despite a three-week-old threat of a lawsuit from state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal against the company that makes the controversial energy drink.

Redux Beverages of Las Vegas, the drink's maker, announced Monday morning it was pulling the beverage off shelves across the nation. But that wasn't the case Monday afternoon, where only an hour's worth of searching through downtown Bridgeport found three stores still selling the caffeine-addled drink.

One of those was a convenience store inside the Exxon gas station at the corner of Noble and Boston avenues in Bridgeport. Getenet Bahiru, the store's manager, said he was unaware the drink had been pulled.

"A cop came in and told me about two weeks ago that they were taking it off the market, but my supplier said no," Bahiru said. "The customers like it."

Iv Vohra, an employee at the Food Mart convenience store at the Xtra Fuels gas station at Beecher and Boston avenues in Bridgeport, said he too was unaware of the ban.

After calling his distributor, he said he would not sell it anymore.

"The supplier said to sell what was left and not sell it any more," Vohra said.

The drink was also available at Grand Package Store at the corner of Grand and Main streets.

The three stores all sold the regular versions of Cocaine and some also sold the sugar-free variety. One

of the cans of Cocaine sold was branded as "Cut Cocaine," even though it was identical in content to other Cocaine products.

According to the California attorney general's anti-drug Web site, StopDrugs.org, drug manufacturers sometimes add baking soda or mannitol to "cut" cocaine to dilute the drug and increase the volume for sale.

Both Blumenthal and Jerry Farrell Jr., commissioner of the state Department of Consumer Protection, complained Monday that the company never paid a state licensing fee to distribute the drink and was violating consumer-protection law by using the cocaine name to appeal to consumers as what its maker called "the legal alternative" to the drug.

One can of Cocaine contains about three times the caffeine of the popular energy drink Red Bull. Dr. Robert Chessin, who works with young people in the Bridgeport area through the Pediatric Health Care Associates, called those levels of caffeine obscene.

"When people drink that much caffeine, they get really wiry, they have a faster heartbeat, they're subject to high blood pressure, it could make you throw up," Chessin said. "There is nothing beneficial at all about it."

Chessin said there is concern about the long-term effects of caffeine use by young people. Because young people traditionally avoid caffeine drinks like coffee, there's been little research done on the subject.

These energy drinks become even more damaging to one's health when combined with alcohol, which Chessin said is becoming more popular on college campuses.

In addition to stores in Bridgeport, the Cocaine drink was also available for purchase online. Two cans of the drink were purchased at computer modification Web site Xoxide.com, which also sells several other energy drinks.

The drinks were shipped to an address in Orange. On their Web site, Xoxide says users can buy "the energy drink that has brought on public outcry and distain [sic] from 'The Man'!"

The drink was also available via a third party on Amazon.com. A single case of the drink — 24 cans — was listed for $75.49, plus shipping.

On Redux Beverages' Web site, product tie-ins like clothing, posters and "stash cans" were available. Links from the site that allows visitors to purchase Cocaine were deactivated.

Chessin said the best bet for consumers is to avoid high doses of caffeine altogether.

"We have enough stress in society," he said. "We don't need more of it."

Keith Whamond, who covers regional issues for ConnPost.com, can be reached at 330-6388.