As we stood saying goodbye on a steamy Florida summer night, I noticed my friend was acting a little erratic, shaking his hands in his pockets.
“Dude, you’re looking a little twitchy,” I commented.
“Oh, I look twitchy?” he responded.
It was the next moment that shook us.
As he made his comment, he stepped forward with his right foot. It was at some moment after that step that he blacked out and stumbled forward, bouncing face-first off the pavement and landing in the grass. He laid there — lights out — for nearly a minute as the mood went from being a bit funny to near panicked.
Thankfully, he came to, asking “Why am I on the ground?” about twenty times, blood dripping from his left eye.
A story like this is far too common among young people, thanks to alcoholic energy drinks. In this case is the drink Four Loko, a caffeine-infused beverage that contains 12 percent alcohol. These dangerous cocktails, which include Sparks, Joose, and even Red Bull and vodka, leave you drunk yet feeling alert, so your body is even more disoriented than just drinking alcohol. According to the Mayo Clinic, these drinks can lead to “heavier drinking and alcohol-related injuries.” As your central nervous system gets boosted from the stimulants, your body falsely believes that everything is fine, and then it hits like a freight train.
