Energy Drinks as an Emerging Social Problem Essay

It seems like there is a new drink on the markets that I beginning to stir some questionable issues on health issues. It does not contain alcohol, but simply is packed with sugar and caffeine. Energy drinks are â€Å"in† right now thanks to the media advertising and trying to sell their products. Debate has been stirred on whether anyone should be drinking these drinks, especially young adults and children. The stimulants contained within energy drinks can disrupt the hearts rhythm, elevate heart rates, cause hypertension, anxiety, headaches, interrupted sleep patterns and in some rare cases can lead to seizures. All of the combined ingredients in energy drinks and their effect are still not fully researched and unknown of the consequences, but definitely it has been figured out that energy drinks are NOT good for the body. What is now just an issued because â€Å"according to doctors† ; might later turn into laws where there has to be an age limit to be able to buy energy drinks. More than likely they won’t become illegal, but there will be a restriction on them for the safety of the younger population in the United States. As mentioned earlier drinking energy drinks is started to become a problem because doctors played the role of claimsmakers. Right now they are trying to convince the general public that something is wrong and something needs to be done about it. To them, consuming energy drinks is a â€Å"troubling condition†. Because of this discovery that energy drinks are bad for the body, the media began to cover this issue. It is not a big issue right now and cannot be described as a social problem because this emerging social problem has really only gotten to the media coverage stage. Time will still tell what the public reaction is going to be. Right now it seems like there has been no reaction to this issue. There are still 3 stages this emerging social problem need to go through; policy making, social problems work, and policy outcome. The claimsmakers have used typifying examples to try to show that energy drink consumption really is a problem. Natural News. com mentions that a 15 year-old boy with ADHD went to the hospital and was suffering from a seizure after drinking two bottles of Mountain Dew and his pill, but energy drinks have 3 to 5 times the amount of caffeine that sodas do. The claims warrants here are simple; something needs to be done to protect the younger population from troubling and unhealthy choices. In conclusion, claimsmakers want restrictions on energy drinks to make it harder for young adults to consume; thus a healthier America. Energy drink consumption seems to be the cigarette of their generation for a lot of young people. Just how cigarettes ended up with laws being made for them, it is very possible that energy drinks will get some kind of restriction on them. This debate on energy drink consumption has begun to get heated and forecasting a big change in policies for energy drinks are very possible in the near future. http://www. devonbate. com/energy-drinks-that-big-of-a-deal/ http://www. foxnews. com/health/2011/02/15/energy-drinks-harming-kids/ http://www. naturalnews. com/032786_energy_drinks_side_effects. html.