IT MAY be a bad word in health education circles, but the rise of Buckfast tonic wine now sees the powerful caffeine-fuelled drink going to the ends of the Earth, or at least New Zealand.

The arrival in the land of the All Blacks of the canned version of the drink known in certain parts of central Scotland simply as Buckie has already caused a sensation, though not perhaps in the manner that the good monks of Buckfast Abbey would have liked.

The importer who is launching Buckfast on the unsuspecting New Zealand public has produced an appealing website for the drink, including a blog, recipe section and a claim about its effects.

“Buckfast is syrup-thick, tastes like a palatable mixture of Ribena and Benylin and gets you pretty uniquely trashed,” said the website buckfast.co.nz.

At least the website did include that phrase – originally from a 2013 reportage article by Vice magazine on the drink’s popularity in Scotland with what it described as a “not-very-popular fanbase” — until health specialists and the New Zealand press pointed out that Buckfast had something of a reputation.

The website correctly stated that Buckfast is a fortified tonic wine containing 15 per cent alcohol, “loaded with tons of sugar” and “a caffeine content which is apparently higher per millilitre than Red Bull.”

Only last month Labour MSP and former GP Dr Richard Simpson attempted to bring in a Bill limiting caffeine in alcoholic drinks which would have effectively banned Buckfast.

He did so following the publication of a study for the Scottish Prison Service on young male offenders which found that 43.4 per cent of those who admitted drinking before their last offence had consumed Buckfast tonic wine.

Simpson said at the time: “Caffeine in the strength that is contained in these drinks is a stimulant, whereas alcohol itself is a depressant. If you add in caffeine in significant strength, drunk in significant quantities, then you produce wired-awake drunks who are actually likely to be more aggressive for longer and less in control of themselves.

“It is the combination of caffeine and alcohol that gives me the concern in terms of the criminality, based on the report in the young offenders unit, which showed the high numbers who drunk this particular substance and had got themselves into serious difficulties, enough to go to prison.”

The website has alarmed New Zealand’s health experts.

Alcohol Healthwatch director Rebecca Williams told the New Zealand Herald she would consider legal action, adding: “I’m still working through what the options might be – a complaint to the police and/or complaint to Advertising Standards Authority.”

Professor Jennie Connor, of the Alcohol Action group, also told the Herald that some studies had found those who consumed caffeine/alcohol mixes were more likely to take risks such as driving after drinking.

The website was launched by Graham Lane, owner of Lane’s Store, an Auckland shop known for stocking British goods and where Buckfast in cans and half-bottles will be sold from Sunday.

He said that he had been unaware of the public health concerns surrounding Buckfast, and last night the website had removed the reference to getting “pretty uniquely trashed”.

Lane told the NZ Herald: “We’re not into promoting things like that. I think we got misguided with our marketing people on that one.

“When comparing to other drinks currently trending on the market, a Buckfast would have on average one-third of the alcohol content but the same caffeine content as a Vodka Red Bull.

“Although it states ‘tonic wine’ on the bottle there is a disclaimer under this that clearly states there is no medicinal benefit to drinking Buckfast – a point we would like to stress.”

The monks of Buckfast Abbey have repeatedly stressed their wine is not made to be abused.