Energy Drinks May Fuel College Kids’ Alcohol Use. By Alan MozesHealthDay Reporter .health.msn.com. November 16, 2010. College students who routinely consume highly caffeinated energy drinks are at significantly higher risk for becoming alcohol-dependent, new research suggests."What we found is that weekly drinkers of energy drinks are more likely to meet the criteria for alcohol dependence," said study author Amelia M. Arria, director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development in the department of family science at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.That means energy-drink aficionados are more likely to suffer from "an inability to stop drinking alcohol, even though they continuously experience a cluster of negative consequences as a result of drinking too much of it," she explained. Some students down the unregulated energy drinks so they can stay up and study. Others mix them with alcohol, which can cause an impaired state described as being "wide-awake drunk." [ See ]