FDA Blows Off Cocaine Drink Claims

The FDA is taking a beverage company to task for the way it's marketing an energy drink called Cocaine.

The product doesn't contain cocaine, but is being marketed as "the legal alternative" to the illegal drug, according to the Web site of Las Vegas-based Redux Beverages. Its logo appears to be spelled out in a white powder that resembles the drug.

The FDA says that kind of claim is illegal, as is the company's claim that the product contains an ingredient that can reduce cholesterol and prevent hardening of arteries.

The FDA says the drink is a drug that can't be sold without federal approval. And it says the product is mislabeled because it doesn't have "adequate directions for its intended uses."

The company insists Cocaine — the drink — isn't a drug, and says all its marketing is intended to be tongue-in-cheek. But Redux says it's ready to have talks with the FDA about how comply with federal law, and adds that revisions are under way on its Web site.

"Your product, Cocaine, is a drug," the three-page letter reads in part. "It's also a new drug and as such cannot be sold without FDA approval."

"Obviously, we're not a drug. We pretty much have the identical ingredients of every other energy drink out there," said Hannah Kirby, managing partner of the beverage company.

Kirby said company attorneys already were in discussions with the FDA about how to comply with federal law. The company has begun revising its Web site and other marketing materials, she added.

The FDA said it inspected the company Feb. 14 and reviewed the product's Web site, http://www.drinkcocaine.com. The agency said it's aware of a proliferation of dietary supplement products being touted as alternatives to illegal street drugs.

The FDA gave the company has 15 days to notify the agency of its plans to correct the violations of federal law. Otherwise, it can face seizure of its products, injunctions and possible criminal prosecution.

"Our take on it is we are naive. Everything that we do in terms of marketing of the products, on to all the various marketing taglines, is intended to be tongue-in-cheek," Kirby said.

Cocaine was one of roughly 500 energy drinks launched worldwide last year, capitalizing on the craze for the typically sugar- and caffeine-laden beverages. Entries on Cocaine's own MySpace.com page suggest the drink has thousands of fans, many of them teens.

Kirby and her husband James founded Redux Beverages last year. They chose "Cocaine" to differentiate their product.

"We knew it would be controversial, we knew it would make us stick out. That was the idea," Hannah Kirby said.

An opposition to James Kirby's year-old attempt to trademark "cocaine" is now pending at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office.