FDA expected to ban alcoholic energy drinks

[The Straight Story]

FDA expected to ban alcoholic energy drinks

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration is poised to announce a virtual ban of alcoholic energy drinks on Wednesday, even as a leading manufacturer is pulling its products off the market.

The FDA is expected to say that caffeine is an unsafe food additive to alcoholic drinks, a move that would effectively ban them from sale. College students have been hospitalized after drinking the beverages, including the popular Four Loko, and four states have banned the drinks.

Phusion Projects, which manufactures Four Loko, announced late Tuesday that it would reformulate its drinks, removing caffeine. While there is little known medical evidence that the drinks are less safe than other alcoholic drinks, public health advocates say they can make people feel more alert and able to handle risky tasks like driving.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40235813/ns/health-addictions/from/toolbar

[DJ13]

1. Thats stupid

Anyone old enough to buy liquor can buy Vivarin and do the same thing.

[ChiciB1]

2. What's Vivarin? n/t

[DJ13]

4. Caffeine tablets

200mg per tablet, twice the dose of regular No Doze.

[ChiciB1]

7. Okay, Thanks... Never Heard Of It Before & Ya Know I SHOULD Have!

I'm a Boomer! Maybe we just had more of the real stuff back then. I often think back to that time, as volatile as it was, I STILL miss it! My daughter has been to San Fran 3 times simply because of all the information and music she grew up with. I went with her once and tried to explain to her that Haigt today isn't ANYTHING like it really was.

She loves the place, but it's too expensive to live there, so we're stuck down here in Florida!

[Baclava]

3. What's next? No more Rum&Cokes? - it has caffeine

"The FDA is expected to say that caffeine is an unsafe food additive to alcoholic drinks..."

get the fuck outta here, you can't have my Cuba Libres

Ban the FDA - Keep your godammed hands off my booze

[slackmaster]

5. Or White Russians?

[Baclava]

8. Bailey's and Coffee?

OR will bars be banned from serving coffee altogether, because, you know, someone could try and slip some whiskey in it, or something

[frylock]

6. fucking stupid..

i'm going to try and find some after work.

[taught_me_patience]

9. Then they'll ban the Red Bull/Vodka

rum and coke
jack and coke
baileys and coffee
White and black russians

right?

:shrug:

[gmudem]

10. Four Lokos are pretty disgusting

I've never had one myself because it seems like such an obviously stupid idea, but I am just out of college so I certainly have friends that do. People drink it so they can stay up long enough to black out. I really don't have much of a problem with the FDA doing this, obviously rum & cokes aren't going to be banned but four lokos are a whole nother story.

[durkermaker]

11. I've never understood alcoholic energy drinks

you have a foot on the gas, and a foot on the brakes

[benEzra]

12. Rum and coke? Alcohol/coffee drinks? Same thing.

I suppose it makes you a little buzzed without making you sleepy, I dunno. I do think it will be mighty hypocritical if they ban the caffeinated alcoholic drinks favored by the under-30 set and exempt the caffeinated alcoholic drinks favored by people of Senatorial age, which I suspect is what will end up happening.

[blondeatlast]

17. Yup. nt

[Le Taz Hot]

13. Looks like people will have to go back to

Rum & Coke or Bailey's, Coffee & Kahlua (it has a name but my menopausal brain can't come up with it at the moment). The point being that the caffeine/alcohol buzz will always be available in one form or another.

[TheKentuckian]

14. Plain old goofy

The nannystaters need to kick rocks

[tomm2thumbs]

15. they'll probably just make 2-packs - mix it yourself, Fresh! (like where it all began)

this was a free market response to a desire from consumers for a product.

where are the caffeinated cigarettes I asked about anyway?

oh nevermind, the LeWhif is already being sold (sigh)
http://www.lewhif.com/

[MadHound]

16. There are loads of mixed drinks that mask the effects of the alcohol, but don't contain caffeine

I had a concoction when I was younger that was famous for this. Called Hop, Skip and Go Naked, it was Everclear mixed with rum and lemonade. The effects wouldn't hit you until a couple of glasses into it, and by then it was too late, you were plastered. Are they going to ban these as well?

And as others have mentioned, what about drinks such as the classic rum and coke, or Irish coffee, or the dozens of other mixed drinks that combine caffeine with alcohol in some form or fashion? Will these be banned as well?

I hate these kind of knee jerk reactions. The money quote in this piece, "While there is little known medical evidence that the drinks are less safe than other alcoholic drinks" exemplifies the absurdity of such bans. Yes, some relatively few college students have had problems because of these drinks, but the fact of the matter is that some college students are going have problems no matter what they drink, not because of the caffeine, but because they are inexperienced at drinking alcohol and simply get hammered. College kids aren't drinking for taste, they drink to get hammered, and will take the most effective form of drinking in order to reach that state. Call it a learning curve, and sadly, no matter what is banned or not, some small number of kids will simple fail on that learning curve.

This is simply more nanny state bullshit that looks like it's going to negatively impact everybody.