The canned beverage looks like an energy drink, but people who drink Four Loko call it cocaine in a can, because it has an extreme amount of caffeine and more alcohol than a beer and most mixed drinks.
"With caffeine and alcohol together that dehydrates your body quickly," Tara Moss said. "And with the caffeine intake it doesn't absorb alcohol as fast as your body should."
Moss is a nurse and also the mother of 16-year-old Susan Moss, who was hospitalized with alcohol poisoning after she drank a full can of Four Loko.
"Her blood alcohol level was 220. Normal is 0 to 10 and it's scary," Moss said.
She says a group of teens purchased the drinks from a store on Highway 20 in St. Pauls without being carded.
"The gas station sells them as energy drinks and so these kids can go into this gas station buy this drink and drink it and get drunk," Moss said.
Moss says after the Four Loko was purchased at the store, the group of teenagers went over to a cemetery and they consumed them. Susan Moss soon passed out. Moss says her friends then loaded her into her car and dumped her at a McDonald's parking lot.
"I woke up throwing up in my car, and then I woke up in the emergency room," Susan Moss said.
Moss recovered, but her troubles aren't over. She faces several charges including possession and consumption of an alcoholic beverage.
Her mother says she wants Four Loko pulled from the shelves.
Send pictures | Classifieds | Report A Typo |
Send Tip |
Get Alerts
Most Popular | Follow abc11 on Twitter | abc11 on Facebook
