Senator Schumer Calls On FDA To Regulate 'Snortable Chocolate'

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer is urging federal regulators to look into a "snortable chocolate" powder, saying he's worried that it could prove harmful and is being marketed like a drug.

In a letter Saturday and at a news conference Sunday evening, the New York Democrat asked the Food and Drug Administration to investigate the use of caffeine in inhalable food products such as so-called Coco Loko. It's gotten buzz in recent weeks.

"I call this product cocaine on training wheels. That's really what it is," Schumer said. "We ought to get rid of it."

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Schumer, the Senate minority leader, says there are too many unanswered questions about a product pitched under the innocent-sounding name of chocolate.

"This suspect product has no clear health value," he said in a statement. "I can't think of a single parent who thinks it is a good idea for their children to be snorting over-the-counter stimulants up their noses."

Marketed as "raw cacao snuff," Coco Loko includes cacao powder, which comes from beans used in making chocolate; they contain some caffeine. Manufacturer Legal Lean Co. doesn't detail other ingredients online, but according to Schumer, Coco Loko also includes common energy-drink ingredients such as taurine, guarana, and gingko biloba.

Schumer said a snortable product "presents huge problems for children, because you don't know how much they get into their systems."

He said the doses of such substances are limited in a serving of an energy drink, but if a substance is snorted, "you can snort and snort and have very dangerous levels in your system."

Schumer said snorting anything at all is bad for the nasal passages, and stimulants make it all the worse.

The product promises feelings of well-being, mental focus, ecstasy-like euphoria and a rush of "motivation that is great for partygoers to dance the night away without a crash," according to Orlando, Florida-based Legal Lean's website. It notes that the claims haven't been vetted by the FDA.

Schumer took particular issue with the claim that the product is "ecstasy-like."

"What kind of product should be on a candy shelf that's similar to ecstasy? What kind of product should kids be allowed to buy that is similar to ecstasy?"

Schumer took particular issue with the claim that the product is "ecstasy-like."

"What kind of product should be on a candy shelf that's similar to ecstasy? What kind of product should kids be allowed to buy that is similar to ecstasy? And why does the company have such gall that they advertise it that way? Because they don't think anyone's going to come down on them," Schumer said. "Well, we're coming down on them tonight, plain and simple."

The FDA has said it hasn't yet determined whether it has authority to regulate snortable chocolate.

Legal Lean Co., which sells Coco Loko online for $19.99 for a 1.25-ounce (3.5-gram) tin, did not return a call seeking comment. Founder Nick Anderson has said he didn't consult any medical professionals but believes Coco Loko is safe. He said he developed it from snortable chocolate that's circulated in Europe in recent years.

"There's really no negative publicity, so I felt we're good to go," he told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday.

Doctors have said they're not certain what the effects of inhaling chocolate might be.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)