Stores work to keep energy drinks from kids

Some shops on P.E.I. are concerned about selling energy drinks, which were recently introduced to the Island, to children.

There is nothing illegal about selling the caffeine-laced beverages to youth, but some store owners are taking the matter into their own hands. The drinks, which are also flavoured, carbonated, and only available in cans, were banned from the province under laws controlling the use of non-refillable containers. That ban was lifted May 3.

The energy drinks are proving popular with kids, which has some adults worried. The Eastern School District Principals Association has asked the province to prohibit selling the drinks to people under the age of 19.

Kyle Keenan of Charlottetown doesn't understand what the fuss is about.

"I don't know why parents are so paranoid," Keenan, 12,  told CBC News Monday.

"They have their coffee; we have our energy drinks."

Keenan said he only drinks about one Rockstar a day, but he said some kids do drink them in search of an energy buzz.

"They think, 'Oh, I'm going to have energy, I'm going to play way better.' And then after, like, if they win a game of baseball and they had an energy drink, they're like, 'Oh, I'll have to start drinking it more.' "

School principals are not the only adults worried about young people and energy drinks, and Keenan said it is getting harder to find stores that will sell to him.

"I try not to sell it to under 16," said Cy Rashed, owner of Cy's Grocery in Charlottetown.

"It's too much energy in it, too much caffeine."

Alan MacPhee, who owns two stores in Souris in eastern P.E.I., is taking his concerns one step further. He's tossing all energy drinks in order to keep them from kids.

"You're a kid? Drink milk," MacPhee said.

"You don't need caffeine and all this juiced-up product. It's just not good."

Keenan said if it comes to energy drinks being banned for kids, he'll just go to a coffee shop to get his fix.

"Keep up the caffeine, I guess, cause your body is used to it," he said.

If the province doesn't move to ban the drinks, the Eastern School District is considering rules to at least keep them off school property.