Hey cocaine addicts, your cheap fix is right here!

[Deja Q]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/26/earlyshow/health/main5038914.shtml?tag=pop

(CBS/AP) Six German states have told retailers to stop selling Red Bull Cola after a test found a trace amount of cocaine.

The bans started Friday after a sample test conducted by authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia state found 0.4 micrograms per liter in the drink.

Five other German states also banned it from shops amid concerns over possible narcotics law violations.

On the The Early Show Tuesday, co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez pointed out the drink being banned is Red Bull Cola -- not Red Bull Energy Drink.

Early Show medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton said cola is made from the coca plant. The coca plant, indigenous to South America, is used as a stimulant in many drinks. She said the dangerous chemical -- the alkaloid cocaine component -- should be removed during processing.

[enki23]

1. that's 400 parts per billion. in about third of a liter?

that would be around .14 micrograms in one of the sodas. that's one and a half ten-millionths of one gram of cocaine. so... if you weighed 1 kilogram and could drink around 650,000 red bull colas in one sitting, you'd have have gone a little way past the dose that is about 50% likely to kill a mouse (a bit over 90 mg/kg i.p. of course, an oral dose would be subject to a first-pass effect, but i can't be bothered to look up the oral ld50 right now). assuming a safety factor of 10 for species differences, another 10 for children, another 10 for sensitive populations, and assuming the average american is (given a mildly-fudged 2001 statistic) around 80 kilograms, and given that cocaine has a physiological half-life of roughly an hour...

try not to drink more than 50,000 or so of these in one hour. at least, if you're a child with another health condition. otherwise, you could go a little higher. as in, orders of magnitude higher.

[Canuckistanian]

6. Awesome debunking n/t

[anigbrowl]

10. Actually, 0.4 parts per billion

0.4 MICROgrams per liter. So what you said, only 1000 more so. What a complete waste of time and money.

[enki23]

13. ack, busted. too used to thinking in mics per mL. 400 parts per trillion it is, then.

.

[HughMoran]

11. I had a feeling this was idiotic

That seemed like an awfully small amount to me as well.

[YOY]

2. 0.4 micrograms...

consider just how much that is...that's a hell of a lot of Red Bull for your average coke head to consume...by the time they've gotten enough to sate their coke habit their heart has already exploded from caffeine + god knows what else ODing.

Not to defend Red Bull...just to point it out.

[Ian David]

7. Maybe it contains the vibrational memory of cocaine?

:sarcasm:

[enki23]

8. jesus, you're right. though in that case it's still *far* too concentrated

it falls somewhere in the great dead zone between effective homeopathic doses and reality.

[bridgit]

3. Why can't Germans have nice things?

[NightWatcher]

4. who needs cocaine, ever drink the BFC of regular redbull

BFC= big friggin can

[Ian David]

5. They sell that at some of the local 7-11s near me. I love the stuff! n/t

[Historic NY]

9. They're going to pee like race horses if they ingest all that stuff.

[rcrush]

12. No wonder I couldnt drink just one!

[Bobbie Jo]

14. Yeah...and it stings the hell out of my nose.

:evilgrin: