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

An excellent opening argument made by my opponent. I'll start by refuting. My opponent's main arguments are: A1. Energy drinks are not drugs. A2. There is not a huge amount of caffeine in energy drinks. A1) To justify this my opponent states an energy drink counts as a beverage by the FDA definition. However, according to the FDA, caffeine is a drug. So how much caffeine is in the majority of energy drinks? According to Consumer Reports, the most popular energy drinks (Monster Energy, Rock Star, 5 Hour Energy) have 100-200 mg of caffeine, but some versions of Monster and 5 Hour have almost 250 mg. This is a huge amount. Also, a characteristic of all drugs -- a DEFINING characteristic -- is addiction and withdrawal. People CAN get addicted to energy drinks, as I've proven. When they're forced to stop drinking them, they go through withdrawal. This is one of the defining characteristics of a drug. You don't get addicted to beverages like orange juice. Although energy drinks are a "liquid for drinking," they're not a BEVERAGE. My opponent also states that the FDA does not define foods containing caffeine as drugs, such as coffee, iced tea, soft drinks, dark chocolate, etc. In saying this, he fails to realize two things: 1. soft drinks are regulated in the amount of caffeine they may contain while energy drinks are not and 2. all of these examples have less caffeine than the average energy drink. 5 Hour Energy has 215 mg of caffeine per serving. An 8-ounce cup of coffee has about 100 (although Starbucks usually has more at 150 mg). A soft drink like Coke has 39 mg of caffeine. Compare all these to the caffeine content of an energy drink, 215 mg. Quite clearly, energy drinks cannot be grouped into the same category as soda, tea, coffee, or chocolate. A2) My opponent justifies his claim by stating the level of caffeine in energy drinks is not high compared to the standards recommended by the FDA. However, he fails to realize who the majority of consumers of energy drinks are: adolescents. According to the FDA, the recommended amount of caffeine for kids, depending on their size and weight, is 45-85 mg. Although teens probably fall into a higher category, I think we can all agree that the 215 mg of 5 hour Energy is way too much. Monster X-presso has even more at 220 mg and Rock Star is absurdly high at 229. All these popular brands are WAY over the limit. An attempt is made by my opponent to compare soda and coffee to energy drinks. Judging by his cherry-picked evidence, he wants us to conclude that coffee has a lot more caffeine than energy drinks, appealing to common sense that no one has died from coffee. But think about a tall steaming cup of coffee. How many people chug that down in a few gulps? How many coffees do you drink a day? The answer to all these questions are probably going to be different if I asked these questions about energy drinks. Coffee is not a valid comparison to energy drinks. My opponent also provides a counter argument, which I'll break down into three parts. Part A: "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." His argument about poor people is completely irrelevant as there is nothing we can do to prevent them from getting addicted to drugs, but we can regulate energy drinks as drugs to try and prevent people who are addicted to them to get addicted to things like crack and heroin. Part B: "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." He's just hit the nail on the head. Caffeine IS a drug. You can get addicted to something with massive amounts of a drug in it. I've already proven that people have gotten addicted to energy drinks, so my opponent's refutation is completely invalid in the face of solid evidence. Part C: "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." I've refuted this already in my refutation of his second argument. Energy drinks have a substantial amount of caffeine, while soft drinks only have a little. Furthermore, soft drinks are regulated in the amount of caffeine they may have, so they have a lot less caffeine. Having refuted all of my opponent's points, I'll move on to my own. P1. Energy Drinks have detrimental effects to the body. Adults & kids are taking an overdose of energy drinks & we need to put an end to it. This can cause serious effects similar to drunk driving, which also happens with other drugs. National Center for Health Statistics: A form of drunk driving occurs 86% of the time after consuming energy drinks. Not only this, consuming multiple energy drinks has sent adults to emergency rooms with racing heart beats, usually 220-250 beats per minute! But Judge, if adults with fully mature bodies couldn"t handle the caffeine, what would happen to the kids? Besides this, there are actually instances where alcohol is in Energy Drinks. Brown Univ.: Four Loko, an energy drink, is 12% alcohol, which is the equivalent of 4-6 beers. Also, 78% of all Energy Drinks actually have alcohol! Judge, just imagine. Every time someone consumes one energy drink they could be consuming up to 6 beers alcohol wise! Does this look like something healthy for average teens, or even adults, who should only be consuming 60-70 mg of caffeine a day? Regulation can prevent people from harming themselves and others due to energy drinks. P2. Energy Drinks behave like drugs. Judge, currently energy drinks are becoming the new "gateway" drug. Keyword: drug. American Beverage Association: If someone drinks 6 or more energy drinks a month, they have a 3x greater risk of smoking cigarettes or engaging in a fight. Judge, even if energy drinks don"t cause that much harm, the gateway effect will lead them to consume more riskier substances, which will inevitably cause extreme adverse effects. Oklahoma State Study: Teens that drink energy drinks consume more than 2x the amount of alcohol & have far riskier drinking habits than those who drink alcohol. Judge, this study shows that energy drinks can lead to even worse abuse of alcohol & cigarettes! Not only this, it has similar adverse effects like withdrawal, a common condition obtained when taking drugs. If this is the case, shouldn"t it be regulated like a drug? Univ. of Miami: Energy drinks cause severe addiction, possibly worse than even cigarettes. In some cases, consumers could go from 1 bottle a day to 5 bottles a day. As I already stated, it"s the addiction that"s extremely harmful. Maybe in the beginning the consumer is going to take energy drinks in moderation, but slowly they"ll get addicted, until their bodies won"t function with o it, like what happens with alcohol. Then, withdrawal symptoms occur! Health Psych Magazine: Withdrawal can cause nausea, vomiting, & other undesirable effects. NY Times: There were 7,800 adult ER visits in 2009 caused by energy drinks. As I've already stated, if this can happen to a person with fully mature systems, what would happen to a teen or adolescent? The answer to my own question is significantly higher heart rates & even more ER visits, almost all leading to extremely adverse effects like withdrawal.