Powdered caffeine for snorting: the new legal high with no health oversight
Caffeine is now being snorted: an Austrian brand sells powders with no health controls. Experts warn of heart attack risk. Where is Spain's Ministry of Consumer Affairs?
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Energy in powder form you snort: the new legal high with no oversight
At what point does an energy drink stop being one and become a legal drug? When it's taken nasally. An Austrian brand, invoking the tradition of alpine snuff, sells little jars of powder containing caffeine, theanine, guarana and taurine. No prescription, no health controls, and a Ministry of Consumer Affairs that, judging by its silence, hasn't yet figured out what this is about.
Snorting caffeine: placebo or real risk?
Some people shrug the question off: the ingredients are the same as in any energy product and, at the doses on offer, the effect is barely noticeable. Snorting rhodiola or matcha would be equally pointless. But the nuance matters: the nasal mucosa absorbs far faster than the stomach. Too much caffeine can lead to tachycardia, high blood pressure or, in the worst case, a heart attack. The guinea pigs aren't in a lab; they're on the shelf.
The legal loophole
The product is marketed as a performance enhancer, not a medicine, which places it in the same category as a food supplement. The EU cracks down on white powders of a different kind; this one is sold with the ease of someone with nothing to hide. Until someone ends up in the emergency room, things will probably stay that way. If it's ever regulated, let someone remember Mariani wine, the coca-leaf tonic taken by Pope Leo XIII. Now that was the real thing.
At what point does an energy drink stop being one and become a legal drug? When it's taken nasally. An Austrian brand, invoking the tradition of alpine snuff, sells little jars of powder containing caffeine, theanine, guarana and taurine. No prescription, no health controls, and a Ministry of Consumer Affairs that, judging by its silence, hasn't yet figured out what this is about.
Snorting caffeine: placebo or real risk?
Some people shrug the question off: the ingredients are the same as in any energy product and, at the doses on offer, the effect is barely noticeable. Snorting rhodiola or matcha would be equally pointless. But the nuance matters: the nasal mucosa absorbs far faster than the stomach. Too much caffeine can lead to tachycardia, high blood pressure or, in the worst case, a heart attack. The guinea pigs aren't in a lab; they're on the shelf.
The legal loophole
The product is marketed as a performance enhancer, not a medicine, which places it in the same category as a food supplement. The EU cracks down on white powders of a different kind; this one is sold with the ease of someone with nothing to hide. Until someone ends up in the emergency room, things will probably stay that way. If it's ever regulated, let someone remember Mariani wine, the coca-leaf tonic taken by Pope Leo XIII. Now that was the real thing.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (10 replies).
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