Canada’s energy drink crackdown needs more than recalls to dissuade kids, say parents and teachers – CBC
Billion-dollar market a ‘huge mountain for us to be climbing,’ says B.C. educator
Sep 06, 2023
Every year, Juliet Brown watches teenagers cluster together and one-up each other about who got the least amount of sleep the night before. Later, between classes, she’ll watch as the same groups buy energy drinks from a nearby gas station to fight off heavy eyes.
“There seems to be this celebration of fatigue … like, ‘Oh, I stayed up until 3:00. Well, I stayed up until 4:00,’ ” said Brown, a high school educator in Burnaby, B.C., with three children of her own.
“Then if you add energy drinks or something with that caffeine, you’ve got a perfect storm of kids who are both tired and overstimulated.”
Brown is among the parents who say they’re glad to see Canadian officials seemingly cracking down on caffeine-loaded energy drinks, but who also agree pulling the drinks off shelves won’t be enough — any recalls need to be paired with tighter rules and a better understanding of influencer marketing if they’re going to make a dent in a billion-dollar market.
“That’s the huge mountain for us to be climbing,” said Brown.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/energy-drink-recall-health-canada-1.6957040
