Friday, April 27, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.
Two federal agents, in suits and with badges, arrived in February unannounced at Jamey Kirby's office with a few questions about his Las Vegas soda company.
They were from the Food and Drug Administration, and Kirby says they grilled him for five hours on his cherry-flavored energy drink, which is named to shock: Cocaine.
Cocaine - the drink - debuted eight months ago at New York Fashion Week, a harbinger of Kirby's intent to make Cocaine chic by brand name alone.
Within three months Kirby rang up more than $1.5 million in sales, a noted success in an industry glutted with energy drinks - 191 brands and counting. Suddenly, he was a soda czar.
Controversy came quickly. The drink has been ripped off store shelves, seized from warehouses, banned in some places, protested in others and widely criticized for romancing teens with a logo that looks as if it's written in white powder and its slogan: "The Legal Alternative."
So, when the FDA announced that Kirby was marketing Cocaine illegally, selling it as an alternative to the street drug and as a dietary supplement, he chalked it up to yet another person not in on the joke.
But here's why Kirby's really laughing: In the two weeks since the FDA announcement, Cocaine's online sales have quadrupled.
"It's hilarious. We knew it from the beginning," he said. "Our whole intention was to ride the controversy. We said it would help us sell drinks."
So Kirby is ready for criticism - he's got about 100,000 cases of Cocaine stockpiled.
"We are absolutely going to ride it," he said. "We're going to ride it big."
The drink is just over 8 ounces and contains 280 milligrams of caffeine, three times more than Red Bull. The drink also includes a handful of additives designed to numb the throat, by no means an accidental allusion to the numbing back-throat drip of the actual narcotic.
After 7-Eleven urged its franchisees to discontinue carrying the beverage last year, many went underground, selling it under the counter, Kirby says.
"Under the counter and out of the back door, just like real drugs," he said. "I couldn't have architected it better."
Cocaine's suggested retail is $2 , but some mark it up to $4. The drink is aggressively marketed online and through MySpace, where fans post videos of themselves drinking Cocaine and can proclaim their devotion to the drink.
One fan wrote simply, "i love you cocaine. forever."
The FDA would not comment on it s ongoing dealings with Kirby's company, Redux Beverages, which is registered in Las Vegas and run out of Southern California.
The company has made some concessions.
At the FDA's request, Kirby took a few choice phrases off the Cocaine Web site, including: "Speed in a Can," "Liquid Cocaine," and "The question you have to ask yourself is: 'Can I handle the rush?' "
The company still isn't in good graces with its critics. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthol demanded April 18 that Redux immediately stop selling Cocaine in his state. The drink was embargoed shortly after, once it was discovered Cocaine did not meet Connecticut labeling standards.
"Parents should be outraged at this reprehensible marketing scheme - an insult to anyone seeking to deter and discourage illegal drug use," Blumenthol said Monday in a statement.
Sardonic marketing has been a hallmark of Cocaine's success, so it's little surprise that Redux responded by mocking the attorney general. A photo of Blumenthol was posted on the company's MySpace profile under a section labeled "Heroes," so thousands of teenage fans could have an ironic hipster laugh.
A fan was promoted to post a photo of himself with 25 cans of Cocaine stacked up and a 26th at his mouth.
Another posted: "I love cocaine ... my dealer is right down the street :):)."
The FDA has given Redux until May 5 to form an official plan for resolving the federal agency's issues with the drink.
Kirby is plotting a Cocaine counter strike, a "secret" plan that seems to involve coming back cooler than before. "We have a strategy, and hopefully, it will be just as controversial," he said.
Two new flavors have recently been announced: "Cut Cocaine," without the numbing throat additives, and "Free Cocaine," without sugar. Free samples are regularly sent to soldiers in Iraq.
For now the company is selling cases of Cocaine as always and working on penetrating foreign markets. Deals have been made to distribute Cocaine in Albania, Bulgaria and Lithuania, where "they don't have a problem with the drink," Kirby said.
But you can't buy Cocaine in Las Vegas. The wholesale price that casinos and local retailers want is too low for the fledgling energy drink empire, Kirby said, and he can't afford to sell soda in the same state that licensed it s business.
Interested parties can order online - drinkcocaine.com - or just take Kirby's word for it. He has two Cocaines a day.
"It's such a great-tasting drink," he said. "I wish it had less caffeine so I could drink more."
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