TAMPA BAY, Fla. -- Everyone has their pick for perking up. There's coffee, soda, energy shots, and now there's a spray.
News of its arrival locally is sprayed across the sign outside Rockin' Cards and Gifts in Pinellas Park.
"Why stand in line at Starbucks or McDonalds with all those nerds?" asks store owner Randy Heine. "Just spray this and you have the same feeling."
That's right: companies that make these sprays say one dose carries up to as much caffeine as a cup of coffee.
"I stayed awake and cleaned my house over and over," Heine recalls after using the product for the first time.
A 16-ounce cup of coffee from Starbucks can cost you about $2, and is typically consumed in a day. The spray costs about $5 for a quarter ounce. But if companies are correct about how powerful one spray is, a container can hold liquid equal to about 100 cups of coffee.
Tired college students like Wesley Valdyke chug a couple cups of coffee each day, and even more during exams.
"It doesn't affect me too much," he says. "It gives me a little boost of energy."
So he'd think about trying caffeine spray, with some hesitation.
"Is it good for you?" he asks. "Is it not good for you?"
That's what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration may eventually look into because of some concerns about safety brought up by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and others. Right now, the spray's sold as a dietary supplement in the U.S., so it's never required FDA approval before hitting shelves.
Heine disagrees with any effort to ban caffeine spray altogether, but he has an idea to help regulate it at the local level.
"Here's what I propose -- that you must be over the age of 18 to purchase these types of products," he says.