They even found that by age 25, these energy drinkers were at risk of developing alcohol abuse.

You could see some similarities between energy drinks and cocaine, albeit cocaine is probably a tad bit stronger. Then there's the energy drink that just straight up called themselves "Cocaine," adding a warning label that read, "Warning – this beverage should be consumed by responsible adults. Failure to adhere to this warning may result in excess excitement, stamina, fun, and possible feeling of euphoria."

Also a disclaimer in this study, they didn't find a direct link between energy drinks and stimulants, as it remains unclear why the correlation would exist, but they felt there's enough there to cause concern and look into it further.

Energy drinks could be the problem, or it could be that they decided to survey a bunch of college kids who apparently have the money to afford drugs and alcohol, party all the time, and need energy drinks to get them through the semester... because they're college kids.