BURNABY —The Gonzales family has had a lot of tough breaks since arriving in Canada including a lack of jobs, repossessions and a house fire earlier in the year. However, nothing compares to their 12 year-old son’s two can-a-day Coke habit.
Bobby Gonzales, who started drinking Coke at the young age of five, was found to have two cavities. He has already previously had one filling. He often has a hard time paying attention in class. His room is untidy with a few cans of coke scattered across the room. These are symptoms common in heavy Coke use.
“His teeth are falling out, his teacher says he talks too much, I just don’t know what to do,” said Flores, the mother of the household, while holding back tears, “He’s out of control!”
The Gonzales’ dentist, Dr David Wong, though calmer, was equally grim in his words saying, “If he doesn’t get help, I don’t see a scenario that he won’t get another cavity,” and that Bobby “will have to probably have at least four fillings for the rest of his life,” to the audible gasps of the dental hygienists in the room.
When he is not allowed to have a Coke, he will pull drastic stunts such as pout or say moderately hurtful things. Sometimes he will even state statistics that sugar “is not that bad for you.”
“Come on man, what is so bad about Coke? If I want to drink it, I should be able to drink it,” justified Bobby, while sipping some Coke. “Besides everyone is doing it.”
Indeed, he is correct: Coke drinking has become an epidemic, not only reaching school children, but people of all ages. Drinking of sugary substances has not been this high since the Pepsidemic of the mid-90s. However, Dr. Cooper, a soft drink treatment specialist, says it is much worse now.
“In the 90s you had the edgy youth, what we would now call hipsters, drinking Pepsi during the height of the Pepsidemic, maybe a few schoolchildren would have the odd can,” Cooper explained.
“But now, everyone from lil’ Sue in kindergarten to your grandmother are drinking Coke. I have not seen anything like it in all my years.”
Many addicts are in denial, not realizing the seriousness of their addictions, claiming that “it’s just a drink” or that they “only have one once in a blue moon.” Former addict Sean Howard knows this all too well.
“At first, it was a Coke after work, then it became two, then it became three. My wife and children no longer recognized me. I was a wreck,” said Howard, a rough looking man, with not quite white teeth. “Before long, I lost my wife, my job, my home . . . everything to Coca-Cola.”
It was not an easy road to recovery for Seam Howard, a former lumberjack. “I tried cold turkey but it wasn’t working, when I’d go to a restaurant, I’d slip up and order a Coke. It wasn’t until my doctor suggested I try heroin that I fully kicked the habit. I haven’t touched a can of Coke since.”
