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Thailand is father to the Western world's original carbonated high energy drink, Red Bull. Consumers support a variety of energy drink brands here, with M-150 being the most heavily marketed in Bangkok. At about US$.25 each, the beverages carry a largely blue collar stigma to them; Thai people always remind me that bus and taxi drivers are your typical M-150 consumers. You can see the original Krating Daeng beverages in the lower left of this image from a convenience store near the office.

In 2000 and 2001, there was a serious problem with amphetamines- ya baa in Thai- to the extent that somewhere between two and four percent of the entire population was addicted. The government here handled this startling social plague by simply killing off the drug dealers. No arrests, no trials: Over 2,000 people were executed during a series of elimination sweeps by the police, often in assasination-style drivebys and shootouts. Personally, I think that the ya baa cleanup efforts were secretly funded by a consortium of Thai energy drink companies.

Need a fix for more? Check out Confessions of a Teenage Drug Addict for the straight story from a Thai youth hooked on ya baa. Or, read about Dietrich Mateschitz's inspirational launch of Red Bull to European markets, and later North American clubbers, in this Fast Company article.