'Craze' Supplement Found to Contain Meth-Like Substance; Company Halts Production
A recently published report has forced that maker of a popular supplement to stop production after traces of methamphetamine were found in the product.
"Craze," the popular supplement made by Driven Sports, stopped production after a report published Monday in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis found a methamphetamine-like chemical in Craze samples.
The Craze supplement contains methamphetamine analog N, a-diethyl-phenylethylamine, a type of meth, according to the research carried out by Dr. Pieter Cohen from the Cambridge Health Alliance in Somerville.
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"So I think they're playing with stimulants to try and find something that will get people juiced up, revved up to work out and make them feel better," Cohen said.
During the study three samples of the supplement were tested-- two bought online and one from a store.
The product has received lots of acclaim on the internet and was even voted New Supplement of the Year in 2012 by BodyBuilding.com.
According to Driven Sports, production of the supplement was stopped weeks ago, but the company argued that the study's accusations are baseless and that researchers may have made mistakes during their tests.
"Driven Sports, the manufacturer of Craze®, has extensively studied and analyzed Craze with the assistance of a DEA registered laboratory, and those studies have consistently indicated that Craze does not contain amphetamines or controlled substances," the company wrote in its statement.
"Despite these results and the extensive nature of these studies, Driven Sports suspended the production and sale of Craze several months ago while it investigated the reports in the media regarding the safety of Craze," they continued.
"With supplements, it's really the wild, wild west. There's no proof that they work and they only take them off the market if someone's been harmed," said Dr. Richard Besser, chief medical editor at ABC News.
