Red Bull claims to give you wings, but it may be a secret ingredient that actually gets you high.

A German study reported that it found minor amounts of cocaine in Red Bull Simply Cola.  While the report said that there was not enough cocaine to ultimately prove harmful or addictive, German law states that Red Bull Simply Cola is an illegal narcotic.Our firm’s personal injury attorneys in San Diego are shocked that a major soda company could possibly think of putting an illegal drug as powerful as cocaine in its soft drink (or HARD drink in this case).  As a beverage provider, Red Bull must be sure that it is using safe ingredients in its products.  If any Red Bull drink contains a harmful substance and causes personal injury, then the company could be sued for product liability.

Red Bull Simply Cola (right) is a recent addition that contains trace elements of cocaine, causing two German states to ban it.

Germany is not taking any chances with a soda that contains cocaine.  As of late May, two German states — Hesse and Northrhine Westfalia — have pulled Red Bull Simply Cola from its stores.  It is yet to seen whether or not Germany’s other 13 states will follow Hesse and Northrine Westfalia’s hard stance against the soda company.

“We have a zero-tolerance (policy),” said a spokesman for Hesse’s environment, energy, agriculture and consumer-protection agency, regarding food products with traces of drugs.

While it is easy to say that any amount of cocaine in a consumer soft drink is dangerous to the general population, the amount of coke in this Red Bull drink is surprisingly safe to drink.

“There is no danger (it),” said the head of the food-safety department in Germany.  “But that has nothing to do with it being allowed or forbidden.”

The problem is that there is an illegal and controlled substance in a mainstream consumer product.  That is an issue that directly conflicts with German law.

Red Bull issued a statement on Monday, May 25, 2009, saying that the energy-drink company uses “decocainized coca leaf extracts” that are permitted under U.S. and European drug laws.  “Use of the extract is regarded in the U.S. and Europe as harmless and nonimpairing.”

Coca Cola was thought to have, in the past, used cocaine in its ingredients, but that soda company has said in the past that they also use a “decocainized flavor essence of the coca leaf” in its Coca Cola Classic.  Coke declined comment when the Wall Street Journal approached them.

The personal injury attorneys at our San Diego law firm feel it is our duty to report these facts to you.  While the amount of cocaine in Red Bull Simply Cola is too small to cause problems or a drug addiction, do you really want to have any amount of cocaine in your body?

Please contact us for a FREE CONSULTATION with an experienced personal injury attorney — in either English or Spanish — at (800) 655-6585 or click here to submit your case for a Free Review.