The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre says alcoholic energy drinks are a growing danger because they fool people into thinking they are less drunk than they really are.

New research in the United States has found the caffeine in energy drinks is negating the sedative effect of alcohol, but not the intoxication.

The Research Centre's Dr Lucy Burns says the drinks give people the false perception that they are safe and in control.

"They feel that the energy drinks are in fact negating the effect of the alcohol, perhaps making them more alert, and that's not in fact true," she said.

"People can find themselves in high risk situations, such as driving a vehicle...[or] particularly girls in at-risk sexual situations."

The national peak drug and alcohol research body is calling for a new education campaign into the dangers of alcoholic energy drinks.

Dr Burns says young people are unaware of the danger of such energy drinks.

"There's this sort of subjective perception that people [believe] 'oh fine, so you can keep on drinking,'" she said.

"What they find is in fact people do keep on drinking, so they're drinking for a longer amount of time which means also they're drinking more alcohol, so they are in fact at more risk rather than at less."