Energy drinks should be regulated as drugs by the Food and Drug Administration.

"Energy drinks should be regulated as drugs by the Food and Drug Administration."There is a situation here and I want to clarify, your title specifies that Energy Drinks should be regulated as drugs and not if Energy Drinks should be regulated at all. I want to make clear that this debate is not if Energy Drinks should be regulated but if they should be regulated as drugs! Definition of Drugs by the FDA: "The FD&C Act defines drugs, in part, by their intended use, as "articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease" and "articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals" [FD&C Act, sec. 201(g)(1)]." [1]Argument 1Energy Drinks are neither "articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease" nor "articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals".The first part is pretty obvious Energy Drinks are not used in diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease.The second is a bit more tricky, let's see how does the FDA defines food: " Food means a raw, cooked, or processed edible substance, ice, beverage, or ingredient used or intended for use or for sale in whole or in part for human consumption, or chewing gum."[2]Interesting now let's see how the FDA defines a beverage: "Beverage means a liquid for drinking, including water."[2]I think that all of you can agree with me that Energy Drinks are "a liquid for drinking".Conclusion: Even if the FDA decides to regulate Energy Drinks they can never, I repeat never regulate them as drugs.But there is one more important explanation, the FDA defines caffeine as a drug but does not define foods containing caffeine as drugs for example: Soft Drinks, Iced Tea, Hot Tea, Coffee, Dark Chocolate, etc. Argument 2Energy Drinks levels of caffeine are not exaggerated high, compared to other beverages and compared to the caffeine levels recommended by the FDAIn terms of caffeine, a can of Red bull(12 ounces) have 80mg, a drip coffee(8 ounces) can have between 115-175mg, a Pepsi One(12 ounces) have 55mg of caffeine the exactly same amount to a Mountain Dew(12 ounces) and a Diet Coke have 45.6mg.[3] Pretty interesting values specially if we make some specific observations, when we go to the MacDonald's and we ask for Large Size Diet Coke how many caffeine grams are we ingesting? According to MacDonald's a Large Diet Coke have 30 ounces[4], so if 12 ounces of Diet Coke contain 45.6mg of caffeine, 30 ounces contain 114mg exactly 42,5% more than a can of Red bull.So what are the recommended values of Caffeine by the FDA?"Studies suggest that moderate amounts of caffeine are not harmful. How much is moderate? One hundred to 200 mg (one to two 5-ounce cups of coffee) each day is the limit that some doctors suggest, but each person is a little different. How caffeine affects people varies with their size, their sex, and how sensitive they are to caffeine’s effects. Experts agree that 600 mg (four to seven cups of coffee) of caffeine or more each day is too much." [5]So according to the FDA they give us 2 different informations, some doctors recommend from 100 to 200mg of caffeine per day, that is 2 cans of red bull. And they tell us that experts agree that 600mg each day is too much, that is 7.5 cans of red bull which means that if you drink 8 cans of red bull a day you are drinking too much but if you drink 7 cans of red bull a day you are in the safe zone.Conclusion:If you are responsible you will never drink 8 cans of red bull a day so caffeine alone is not a very high value and not an issue specially if you compare them to other beverages.And let me be clear about something drinking 8 cans of red bull won't kill you, and you probably won't feel many side effects the problem here is if you consume 8 cans of red bull a day for long periods of time.The FDA gives us some information about death by Caffeine overdose:"Caffeine overdose is dangerous and can kill you. FDA knows of a 19 year old college student who died after taking an overdose of caffeine tablets to stay awake. A caffeine tablet contains as much caffeine as one to three 5-ounce cups of coffee."[5]Some Counter Arguments"According to National Science Board:People that drank energy drinks are 2 times more likely to abuse alcohol, smoke marijuana, etc. compared to people who don't.Also, energy drinks cause consumers to become addicted, making it nearly impossible to stop drinking. When they try to stop, withdrawal and a variety of harmful symptoms, occur."The first part is totally irrelevant, it is the same as saying poor people are more likely to abuse alcohol, smoke marijuana, etc. Who cares? It is not an argument in favor of the FDA to regulate the drink as a drug.Second one only occurs because of the caffeine and as I showed that it is unlikely to get addicted to caffeine only if you consume a LOT of caffeine per day. And still it is not an argument in favor of regulating them as a drug because you can drink caffeine from other Soft Drinks and they are not regulated as drugs.Final ConclusionBy the FDA definitions Energy drinks can never be regulated as drugs. But even if they could be considered as drugs there not enough information to classify them as "drugs", ok they contain caffeine but it isn't something crazy you can become addicted to caffeine with much easier and cheaper products like coffee and Soft Drinks. Should we regulate them all as drugs? I don't think so it is an extreme measure and shouldn't be done!Sources: [1] - http://www.fda.gov... [2] - http://www.fda.gov... [3] - http://www.math.utah.edu... [4] - http://www.mcdonalds.com... [5] -http://www.fda.gov...