WFAA-TV

The two cans on the left contain alcohol; the two on the right do not.

WFAA-TV

Shoppers may find it hard to distinguish between alcoholic and non-alcoholic energy drinks.

RICHARDSON — First came energy drinks marketed to look like soft drinks.

Now some parents are worried about alcoholic beverages packaged to resemble energy drinks. The beverages — with brand names like Tilt (from Budweiser's parent company) and Sparks (a Miller subsidiary) — are sold in convenience stores, dangerously close to their non-alcoholic cousins.

Few people can tell the difference at a glance, but kids know what they're looking for.

"They do riskier things than we do," said Nicole Holt of Texans Standing Tall, a statewide coalition focusing on the dangers of youth alcohol use. "They just don't have the same sensations we do. They don't get the same warning mechanisms. So now you mix caffeine in it? So now you've just escalated an already dangerious occurence."

School counselors from the region got educated on this new category of products this week in Richardson.

Experts say the drinks can contain the equilavent of a shot of whisky and three caffeinated sodas.

The beverage makers say they market these alcoholic products only to legal drinking age consumers.

E-mail mjepson@wfaa.com