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Sep 25, 2006 9:06 am US/Pacific
Local Leaders Just Say No To Cocaine... The Drink
Activists Call For Boycott Of New Energy Drink
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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Promoters of Cocaine ironically hope that it will teach kids to stay away from drugs.
CBS
Najee Ali, a south Los Angeles activist, is calling for a national boycott of a new energy drink,
Cocaine, because he says it promotes drug use among young people.
Cocaine's makers say it provides an energy boost similar to the illegal drug, but the active ingredients in the drink are sugar and
caffeine -- lots and lots of caffeine. They claim it has more caffeine than any in other energy drinks.
Cocaine is currently sold in over 200 stores in Los Angeles, New York and San Diego, according to Hanna Kirby of Las Vegas-based Redux Beverages.
Ali, executive director of Project Islamic HOPE, as well as a coalition of South Central Los Angeles community leaders will hold a news conference in Leimert Park Monday to call for a national boycott of the new drink.
"The coalition leaders have pledged to shut down any store or business in South L.A. that attempts to sell the Cocaine drink to our community," Ali said.
"Cocaine use has killed, imprisoned, torn apart and devastated countless members of our community," he said. "The Cocaine energy drink will have a terrible impact on impressionable children."
Ali said people did not object enough when rapper Nelly's
Pimp Juice energy was sold in the community.
"And now, Cocaine energy drink owners think they can come in also," he said. "We have to be prepared to fight this Cocaine drink by any means necessary."
Other groups calling for a boycott to Cocaine include the National Action Network, Community Coalition and Latino and African American Leadership Alliance.
Anti-drug advocates in other cities have spoken out against the beverage, saying it could lead young people to try the real thing or become addicted to caffeine.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
