There is a whole new emergence of alcoholic beverages specifically marketed to adolescents that parents are not aware of.  The problem arises when alcohol is mixed with caffiene and other stimulants.  One can act as an upper, and the other a downer, often resulting in cardiovascular failure.  The perception is that the two don't cause impairment, then the kid gets behind the wheel of a car.  Each year about 5,000 people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking, which includes about 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle accidents.  Parents need to know their kid's friends as well as they know their own kids.  And they need to reinforce the point that it could happen to anyone. 

Since when did people die from underage drinking? Anyhow, this sounds like a rumor, got a name for these drinks or proof that it's marketed to adolescents?

Sparks, its like Rockstar with alcohol.  There's famous rappers and musicians coming out with energy drinks specifically marketed to their fans.  And it's becoming way popular to just mix them yourself. 

I mix my own. Vodka with redbull. It gets my drunk and hyper but i cant taste the vodka because the redbull is strong. My favorite!

Hey marty aren't you worried about the health affects when you drink Vodka and RedBull?  How often do you drink it?

I remember drinking these in high school and the teachers couldn't tell that there was alcohol in it. We had a blast and they couldn't smell it much either.

Some of those drinks have more alcohol in them than beer too.  Sparks has .8 percent, which is a lot.  And I'm sure a lot of kids just drink them in the beginning of the night, assuming that they haven't drank that much.  Most girls can only handle about 2-3 beers until they're drunk.  I think parents and teachers need to be more aware of this.. because teens don't always know how to handle their alcohol, especially now that teens are drinking at a younger age now. 

I really dont see the danger in these. I mean soda is very bad for you also. It's ridiculously bad. When I quit drinking soda I lost 5 pounds every week for a month!! I wasn't even very fat. Also have you ever tried putting a piece of steak into a cup of pepsi, just for the night see what it does to it and imagine it doing all of that to your intestines. These energy drinks are just the same except with a lot more caffeine and I think people are making too big of a deal about how unhealthy they are and all that.

Honestly, it's much better to just get a full 8 hours of sleep so that we're not over working out bodies and exhausting our brains.  There's really no good excuse to deprive yourself of sleep so that you absolutely need an energy drink to get through the day.  They're not horrible for you, but they're not good for you either.

I agree with larryking I dont see the danger of energy drinks. No doctors have come up with any other side effects other than the same as soda drinkers. I thnk its just because its a new thing that people make such a big deal about it. I can see the problem with mixing it with alcohol tho, but I also dont think its as bad as some people say it is.