2008 House Bill 374 (Prohibit sale of energy drinks to minors)

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Introduced by Rep. Danny R Ford on January 25, 2008, to prohibit the sale of any carbonated beverage that exceeds a caffeine content of seventy-one (71) milligrams per twelve (12) ounce serving and contains taurine and glucuronolactone, commonly referred to as "energy drinks," to anyone under 18 years of age.
- Referred to the House Health and Welfare Committee on January 29, 2008.

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Comments

Introduced by Rep. Danny R Ford on January 25, 2008. New Comment

1) Whats this [by Anonymous Citizen on June 5, 2008]
I dont understand how it can be made illegal to minors. So if I buy some energy drinks and give a kid one I'm a criminal?!? But If I give a kid some coffee im not? Why dont we ban Caffeine all together? Lets ban Sugar too while were at it! Lets also ban those 3 gallon jugs of water cause if you drink it all you will die. I really dont care if they make it illegal ill give kids cases of energy drinks.
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2) down with Noz [by Anonymous Citizen on May 27, 2008]
i agree with all that and that everyone should stop wasting money on energy drinks
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3) the ingredients [by Anonymous Citizen on May 17, 2008]
I think that the makers of nos, monster, redbull and all of those other energy drinks should make stuff that everyone can enjoy. i mean c'mon you see teenagers walk through hallways streets drinking these sugar loaded caffeine drinks. i dont drink them but i know people who do and their health is decreasing a lot.Energy drinks are very addicting but its like smoking but only not that bad. i just hope that the makers can create something that everyone can enjoy and not some sugar loaded caffeine drink that will give some young kid a heartattack. lets just hope they make something that we all can enjoy like we all enjoy soda,gatorade,water,juice and other stuff please comment cause i wanna drinks energy drinks to.
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4) Do These Politicians Know… [by rossh on April 28, 2008]
…how to look up the two Constitutions under which all laws in Kentucky are (supposed to be) based?

Brain dead laws like this are piling up on the books, and are getting completely out of hand. The government has no right to seize control of the distribution of sodas in stores heh. What sad times we live in, when considering the God-given liberty our great country was once known and envied for.

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5) Why bann the unknown? [by Anonymous Citizen on April 24, 2008]
Why would the government waste their time on kids and the sales of energy drinks? These people who have this caffeine disease should just find healthier ways of getting a boost. Why would you take it away from the people who dont drink it irresponsibly? And why are the people who cant drink it trying to ban it for everyone??? Is it because their angry?? Or is it that if they cant have it why should anyone?? Doesn't the government have anything more productive than to bann caffeine drinks (that kids can still get with their parents help)like the war on terrorism?Or the crime rate in the U.S.? Or is it that Energy drink industries are making millions in the business and Gov. officials are jelious that they acually did something for their money?? Think of what law your making and if its even worth the efforts???
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6) Why??? [by Anonymous Citizen on April 24, 2008]
Why would anybody in their right mind pass a law that would ban energy drinks, I mean a lot of kids would crash and probably go Colombine due to loss of high cafination, and another thing if we (as in the children of America) wanted to quit drinking energy drinks we would, but unfortunately we don't and it's nobody's fault but our own. Besides If the government wanted to waste money on trying to enforce this law it would be BIG.
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7) Watch your heart [by Anonymous Citizen on March 6, 2008]
I think that in a way it is a good things because teens don't know when enough is enough. They think cool my heart rate is going up. The size of these drinks keeps getting bigger as well which is just ridiculous. I am 17 and suffer from tachycardia (increased heart rate) and if I drank one of these I could have even worse tachycardia.What if there was somebody else had this and did not and drank one of those giagantic energy drinks then they are at risk.
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8) helloooo!!!!!!!! [by Anonymous Citizen on February 11, 2008]
do the people banning this realize that 98% of high school teens drink one a day to wake them up in time for school? that if they take these away from us we wont make it through the day? i think its pretty retarded to take this away. and we are all pretty much perfectly healthy teens and we drink them so they can't be that unhealthy. i agree with the coffee person. fast food is more dangerous too. i mean really what is the point???
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9) Get your priorities straight KY [by Anonymous Citizen on February 10, 2008]
This law is beyond words. Who the h... had so little time on their hands that they thought the best thing that KY could do for its young citizens is to stop them from drinking energy drinks. What about college education for those who can't afford it? What about insurance for those who can't afford that? What about dental health for our youth? (after all we are the #1 state for poor dental health) Can't we think of some useful way of spending tax dollars? Or do you think that just requires the men and women in office to actually have to work for their pay checks?????
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10) what the..? [by newmark on January 26, 2008]
Why are we trying to regulate energy drinks?

This is just ridiculous.
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11) Not Ridiculous [by kcash on January 29, 2008]
As the teacher of a student who had an adverse reaction to such energy drinks, I do not think this is ridiculous. In fact, it was my student, Tate Clements, who won the "There ought to be a law" contest which recommended prohibiting the sale of energy drinks to those under 18 years of age.
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12) Sorry to hear [by rossh on May 21, 2008]
Praising a student for winning an award for preaching the joys of the Nanny State? Sad...
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13) Oh Pllleeeaaasssee!! [by What the h on January 30, 2008]
Well, if we're going to legislate energy drinks for minors, first we need to legislate coffee which has vastly more caffeine per ounce. In fact if energy drinks have too much caffeine for children, we need an outright ban on all coffee products for everyone due to the much higher caffeine content per ounce. Additionally, we ought to ban the internet due to the increased likelihood that some may get carpal tunnel syndrome and we need to ban elections due to the increased carbon footprint cause by all the hotair being dispelled, and we need to ban......
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14) Slippery slope [by Anonymous Citizen on May 4, 2008]
And this is what we call the slippery slope!!! I'm a mother of four children, and I drink energy drinks, and I allow my children to have sips of my coffee, I even allow my 13 year old son to have an occasional energy drink himself. But I regulate it, it's not the government's job to regulate our children's caffeine intake, it's the parent's job. The government already has too much to worry about uh like getting our troops out of Iraq for instance. Why don't they focus their attention on that instead of trying to control yet another thing in our lives .....parenting.
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15) ok [by Anonymous Citizen on June 5, 2008]
I agree but the kids can still buy it at the store themselves. When i was younger I would buy anything I wanted even if my parents said not to. You can't control your kids cause they are not robots. They are free willed beings
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16) Just because some percentage have an adverse reaction.. [by newmark on January 29, 2008]
Should we regulate peanuts? Peanut allergies are dangerous and, if I had to guess, afflict more people than those who have an "adverse reaction" from energy drinks.

These drinks have been around for how many years now? If this was such a terrible epidemic, I'm quite sure the media and politicians would have been all over this. I haven't seen the media all over this. And while sometimes the media misses the boat, it tells me that this is not really important to most people.

And I disagree with the premise of legislating based on the concept of "There ought to be a law...". Laws should be made ONLY when necessary to protect people from those who would take away their rights. The only problem is, government now takes our rights -- our everyday choices -- away from us, for "our own good."

Let's check the top five list of "there ought to be a law..."

5. Keeps people from getting fat (regulate what type and quantity of food you are allowed to eat)
4. Keeps people from being uninsured (government takes over healthcare and runs is as efficiently as every other government agency - if you missed the sarcasm, too bad for you)
3. Keeps people from deciding how to best protect their children in a car (booster seats until they're in high school?)
2. Keeps people from wasting money by gambling (freely engaging in an activity for entertainment purposes)
1. Keeps people from living their own lives and making their own decisions (everything government does these day)

I'm glad that you have your students thinking about politics. I seriously hope that they don't all buy into the "mommy government" mentality.

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17) Stop the presses.... [by Anonymous Citizen on January 25, 2008]
You mean the kids in our state that are drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and marijuana, causing accidents by driving too fast, dropping out of school, and getting pregnant....... these same kids are able to buy drinks with sugar and caffeine?? There ought be a law against that, .... or maybe the legislature should just focus on the real problems facing our young folks. I can see it now, “I cannot sell you that bottle of Red Bull because your are 17, but you can buy 3 bottles of Mountain Dew.”
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