Captain Jose Navarro of the 34th Precinct said his squad would ramp up efforts to stop the illegal syrupy-sweet hard liquor drink from being sold to teens this summer.

"We want to get this off the street, especially when they are selling this garbage to little kids," he said.  The potent drink is a mix of hard liquor - often whiskey, rum and vodka - mixed with different fruit juices, Kool-Aid and sometimes candy like Jolly Ranchers.

It's served up in kid-friendly large Styrofoam cups, 32-ounce soup containers or clear plastic juice bottles.  The illicit booze is at barbershops and bodegas, or from coolers on sidewalks and out of the backs of vans, said Navarro. The frozen version of Nutcracker is called "Finding Nemo" or "Nemo" for short.

Talk about the drink and vendors hawking the sale of Nutcracker can often be found on Twitteras well.  "These drinks are dangerous, they'll fuel a fight," he said, adding that the drinks are often sold at bodegas late at night when the storefronts transform themselves into "after hours nightclubs."

In 2010, a group of Northern Manhattan elected officials called for more enforcement around the sale of the illegal drinks. They want new legislation to increase penalties for selling alcohol without a license and to make the illegal sale of alcohol to minors grounds for suspension or revocation of a barber shop's license.

Residents in Washington Heights and Inwood said the sale of the illegal drinks at $5 to $10 a pop is prevalent and increases once the weather warms up.

Nutcracker's origins are up for debate, with Uptown Collective claiming they were first sold at a Chinese-Latino eatery on the Upper West Side and later brought to Washington Heights to sell to crowds at a local barbershop. The New York Times citing the same folklore, focused on the drinks roots in Harlem.

Police don't care where Nutcracker came from. They just want residents who see anyone selling the drinks to call the 34th Precinct with tips.

Read more: DNA Info.com 

 

Teenagers who are involved in sports or exercising are less likely to use drugs and smoke cigarettes compared with teens who are not as active, a new study suggests.

 

However, Reuters reports that the study found high school athletes on teams drank more alcohol than their classmates who weren't on a team.

 

Data from more than 11,000 teens, who graduated between 1986 and 2001, was included in the study. They were first surveyed as high school seniors, and then surveyed again up to four times through age 26. The researchers found that higher levels of participation in sports, athletics or exercising was related to lower initial use of drugs and cigarettes, which in turn led to lower substance use throughout early adulthood. In those who increased their activity level throughout early adulthood, frequency of use of cigarettes, marijuana and illicit drugs other than marijuana decreased, the researchers report in the journal Addiction.

 

The research found that about 38 percent of teens who weren't active said they smoked cigarettes during the past month, compared with 25 to 29 percent of teens who were frequent exercisers and athletes. Among inactive teens, 23 percent said they had smoked marijuana in the last month, compared with 15 to 17 percent of active and athletic teens.

 

The study also revealed that 57 percent of teens involved in a team sport said they drank alcohol in the last month, compared with 45 percent of teens who weren't active. Reuters reports that the researchers have many theories about why student athletes drink more, including peer pressure to drink after a game and the close tie between sports and alcohol advertising.

  

Source: Drug Free- JoinTogether