Addictive Behaviors Alcohol Mixed Energy Drinks

Red Bull is commonly mixed with Vodka or Jagermeister

The dangers of mixing two different types of drugs are paramount! The power of stimulants, like cocaine, alongside debilitating central nervous center depressants (CNSD's), like Alcohol, is extremely dangerous. When someone introduces stimulants into the blood stream when they are already intoxicated from alcohol the effect is opposite what one might think. Stimulants give the drinker the feeling that they are not that intoxicated, not only can they drink more but they could also negotiate driving home; this common misconception is a deadly one to have, in no way does the addition of stimulants into one's body make you less drunk - only more awake.

What about stimulants like caffeine, could it have a similar perception altering affect? A study appeared in the journal of Addictive Behaviors this month which had some interesting data worth sharing on alcohol mixed with energy drinks. The study was conducted by the University of Florida and consisted of 800 young drinkers at bars between the hours of 10pm and 3am. The study observed that people who drank alcohol mixed with caffeine appeared to be more intoxicated than those who consumed pure alcohol. Furthermore, they found that people who were mixing were also much more likely to say they intended to drive home. According to the study: "Patrons who had consumed alcohol mixed with energy drinks were at a three-fold increased risk of leaving a bar highly intoxicated...As well as a four-fold increased risk of intending to drive on leaving the bar district, compared to other drinking patrons who did not consume alcoholic beverages mixed with energy drinks".

It seems like since the advent of drinks like Red Bull and Rockstar energy drinks people have been concerned: Besides being terribly unhealthy, for some reason they tend to confuse an intoxicated person into thinking they are sharp as a tack - nothing could be further from the truth. It is possible that at some point the mixing of alcohol and caffeine will be outlawed, there are some bars which have made a preemptive strike and no longer allow the mixing of energy drinks with alcohol. Alcohol mixed with energy drinks can be a fatal cocktail and should be avoided.

Diane Schuler Wasn't Drunk or High, She Ordered Chicken Selects!

At this point it is probably safe to say that the majority of Americans are familiar with the Taconic Parkway tragedy from back in July. Where Diane Schuler drove the wrong way down the Taconic Pkwy with five children in a minivan, drunk and stoned; crashing head-on with a SUV carrying three people. A total of eight people died in the wreck, the sole survivor was Diane Schuler's five-year-old Brian Schuler; it's is a blessing that more were not injured in that horrific accident. Schuler's husband Daniel has repeatedly claimed that Diane was not an alcoholic and that she hardly ever drank, furthermore, Daniel states that he had never seen her drunk. As for the marijuana, well, apparently that was only for medicinal purposes to help her sleep. Daniel Schuler went so far as to hire a private detective to dispute the toxicology findings, but, basically the investigator Tom Rushkin has been hired to poke holes in the case against Diane. The latest defense put forth is interesting to say the least! Tom Ruskin stated, "That Taconic mom Diane Schuler couldn't have been drunk and high when she crashed her car driving the wrong way down the Taconic because she ordered Chicken Selects from McDonalds four hours earlier", reports The Village Voice. One has to wonder how it is possible, after seven innocent people lost their lives, that Rushkin and Schuler's husband could think that would prove her innocence.

Apparently, Schuler could not have been drunk or stoned, she argued with a McDonalds' employee and demanded to speak to a manager about ordering something not on the breakfast menu - Chicken Selects. A McDonalds' employee who served Schuler filled out an affidavit and failed to mention that Schuler seemed intoxicated, and that is the argument in a nutshell. Maybe Schuler wasn't inebriated at the McDonalds, but, there was another four hours until the fatal crash which would be plenty of time to drink and smoke. Diane "was seen by three witnesses vomiting at the side of the road on the morning of the crash. At the time of that report, Ruskin said that if it was Schuler vomiting, it proved that she was incapacitated by illness and not by pot and alcohol", according to The Village Voice. It is unbelievable how hard evidence against Diane Schuler keeps popping up and Rushkin keeps dreaming up magical alternatives to why Schuler couldn't be intoxicated. Incapacitated by illness, like alcohol has never made people vomit when they mix alcohol with pot?

Diane Schuler was an alcoholic who took the lives of many people with her addiction. The evidence all points in the same direction and the longer people try to cover for Diane the worse it makes her and the entire family look. Is it possible that Diane hid her disease from everyone, sure it's possible; but, there are people out there who know what happened on that tragic day and they are not speaking up. If anything, the truth is owed to the loved ones of the deceased; why belabor this tragedy any longer. Everyday, people get behind the wheel intoxicated even with children, as we saw in Schuler's case; New York just passed a bill that makes driving intoxicated with a child in the car a felony. Unfortunately, laws have very little sway against an addicted mind.

The video below seems slow and pointless until the end when everything suddenly speeds up. Or at least that is how it appears. We wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.