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Caffeinated Alcoholic Drinks May Be Illegal
Anonymusing writes "The FDA has announced an investigation into the safety and legality of alcoholic beverages containing caffeine. As a Wall Street Journal blog reports, two major beer companies, MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch, stopped producing caffeinated alcoholic drinks last year after reports surfaced of increased negative effects compared to caffeine-free alcohol. CNN notes that, according to FDA rules, 'food additives require premarket approval based on data demonstrating safety submitted to the agency' — and caffeine is a food additive. The 26 targeted beverage makers have 30 days to respond."
I'm starting to get a little scared about all the legislating going on... I mean, seriously, it's alcohol. People don't drink it for the health benefits!
:)
I'm really hoping that in the near future, the US government becomes much more hands-off. We can handle life on our own, really. (Well, most of us can. As for people like this, well... Tough luck to them.)
Failing that, though, can anyone recommend a nice country with good Internet access and a hands-off government?
The problem starts when you are out so far your body forgets to breathe. Can happen with all downing drugs and is one of the main dangers of OD. You may have been very lucky to survive. If you ate the stuff and your body tried to vomit it out but couldn't due to your being too far out cold, you might even have died suffocating on your own vomit.
As for alcohol poisoning - I doubt it's harder to inflict than grass poisoning or more likely to kill. If you OD, you screwed up, whatever the poison in question is.
Word of advice - decide beforehand on your limit, monitor your own intake and know that if you loose count, it's time to call it a day. If you have to experiment, get a sober minder to stay with you.
-- Put crudely, the world is an extremely large problem instance. (Russel/Norvig Artificial Intelligence)
I'll get modded down to oblivion but I think we should have kept the ban on alcohol exactly for the reasons the parent poster stated. Alcohol is dangerous - small amounts don't (usually) do anything but over time it's not good for people, especially their brains. Alcohol dissolves brain tissue - particularly the neurons in the cerebellum. Alcohol can weaken the blood brain barrier (over time) and cause all sorts of problems. Most of our automobile accidents are mainly due to alcohol. Much of our crime is due to (or greatly exacerbated by) alcohol.
Besides, during Prohibition organized crime rates may have gone up but overall crime rates went down. Prohibition was effective but too many people didn't want it for it to last. That's fine - that was the will of the people but I still think it should have lasted.