Just weeks after the federal Food and Drug Administration pulled the Cocaine energy drink from shelves, Blow hit the market, causing buzz and heartburn nationwide.
Containing as much caffeine as four espressos, 240 milligrams, Blow, a powder mix, also is packed with 2,000 milligramsof taurine, a stimulant derived from animal bile.
The tendency when people have the powder is to take more, said Michael Gimbel, drug addiction educator with Sheppard Pratt Health System in Baltimore City.
Caffeine intoxication can lead to problems with anxiety, nervousness, faster heart rate, high blood pressure and addiction.
“The Web site on this product is the most ?pro-drug? marketing I have ever seen,” Gimbel said. “Once again, the energy drink market is using the ?drug culture? to sell their products to our teens and young adults.”
But the greatest danger isn?t the product ? it?s what the product is mixed with.
Teens and young adults might put the powder in another liquid energy drink, making it a “super-energy drink,” or pour it into alcohol, Gimbel said.
Others also worry young people might go a step further and inhale the product.
“If you are taking something intra-nasally, you are bypassing the effects of the drug breaking down in the stomach, and you are taking it right into your veins,” said Dr. Chris Welsh, addictions specialist with the University of Maryland Medical Center.
“The biggest problem is in heart conditions, especially if you don?t know you have one,” Welsh said. “Some arrhythmia don?t have symptoms and can affect very young people.”
How does manufacturer iLoveBlow.com respond to potential claims that its product may be irresponsible?
“Anyone offended by our product needs to lighten up and get a life,” company founder Logan Gola said in a statement released before the phenomenon took off.
Consumers calling to complain about the edgy marketing hear a sultry recorded message advising offended callers to “get down on your knees and pray for our souls.”
“Of course we use aggressive marketing, but it?s very tongue-in-cheek,” Gola said. “Blow is seductively cool, powerfully effective, and our marketing is admittedly edgy.”
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