Powdered Alcohol Approved By Feds, Banned By States

StikyPad writes Powdered alcohol was approved for sale by the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, but that hasn't stopped several states from introducing their own legislation to ban the substance, including Alaska, Louisiana, South Carolina, Vermont, New York, Virginia, Ohio, and Iowa. The utility of powdered alcohol is said to be in weight reduction, particularly for transport on foot when hiking and camping, but lawmakers cite fears about the potential of abuse by minors and spiked drinks.

Comments

Becasue... the children!

[Lawrence_Bird]

I for one am sick of the fucking children. No, its not good enough that you need to be a certain age to purchase this stuff. Nope. Must deny it to the legal adults becuase little Johnny just might snap some up while nobody is looking.

NANNIES

Re:Becasue... the children!

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not the real reason, they don't want anyone sneaking booze into place where they'd otherwise spend money on beer and drinks. Like stadiums, concerts, etc.

Don't believe everything a politician tells you, they get money from Bud, Coors, and Jack Daniels.

Re:Becasue... the children!

[duck_rifted]

Because that's not the real reason either. The bans on powdered alcohol followed stories about people doing really stupid stuff with it, like snorting it, trying to smoke it, seasoning food with it (and getting more drunk than expected, later than expected), etc etc. It's not worry about kids; it's worry about simpleton adults who like to experiment with stuff before knowing anything about it.

In Louisiana, another reason is that the ban might create another way to arrest people. Louisiana wants as many inmates as possible for slave labor.

Re:Becasue... the children!

[mcl630]

They weren't actually stories of people doing those stupid things, the maker (Palcohol) suggested doing those things on the website:

http://www.theverge.com/2014/4...

Re:Becasue... the children!

[Jane Q. Public]

FWIW, all sorts of crazy stuff is already happening with cannabis edibles in Colorado. Here's the fear and loathing article that made the rounds...

Maybe there's a good reason to pause given the public doesn't really know how to handle this stuff yet...

The former argument doesn't lead to the latter. People have been using Cannibis in its various forms for at least several hundred years. It simply isn't true that we don't know what to do with it. The information is everywhere.

Morons will be morons, no matter what tools they use to demonstrate it. That should NOT be a restriction on the rest of us.

Re:Becasue... the children!

[duck_rifted]

There are four ban triggers that I can think of. In places with very high population density, letting people freely access stuff that not only can they do really stupid things with but probably will isn't a great idea because it will probably hurt, kill, or otherwise negatively impact more people. That makes New York an easy one.

Louisiana is an easy one too. Most of the people in Louisiana who aren't conservatives are felons, whether they're criminals or not. It just sort of seems to end up that way here, but we can probably guess that the process has some help. When I say "conservatives," what I mean is, "either rich of deeply theocratic." It's not so much that the constituency demanded the ban as they would have been out for legislator blood the first time some stupid stuff happened and Little Johnny Farmer Baptist got hurt.

Alaska is an easy one too. It's still mostly unsettled, and it's an effing cold place. Alcohol is a vital commodity out in the cold because it's an antiseptic, a painkiller, and it can make a person feel warm when they're not. So, two things about that. First, we can probably guess (though it isn't said) that the alcohol industry has a lot of pull in Alaska. Second, when you live in a place that can get stupidly dangerous due to natural factors that can be an everyday thing, doing more stupid stuff with chemicals is stupid^2.

Three states, three influences. I have no idea about South Carolina, but I have one more idea about a ban trigger: constituency pressure. It would be hard to guess how much of the influence was actual pressure from voters versus anticipated pressure, but I bet it's a similar situation as in Louisiana (though probably for totally different reasons).

If I'm right, then California will ban it after scientifically proving it's unhealthy for reasons none of us have thought of, Texas will ban it if they're paid to, Florida will ban it if the GOP says it should, and New Jersey will eventually make Powdered Alcohol Day a state holiday. Every other state will probably shrug and ignore it -- except for beverage manufacturers. You know, the only people who have a really good reason to buy the stuff to begin with.

Re:Becasue... the children!

[cptdondo]

You don't backpack much, do you? Carrying a liter of alcohol in a backpack is a huge weight, no matter what condition you're in. The less weight you have, the more fun it is.

And yes, most of use use some sort of poowdered sports drink, often to hide the taste of the water we get from streams and lakes, even after filtering.

As a backpacker I really support this. There's nothing like sitting arond dinner at night, nad having a drink under the stars.

Re:Becasue... the children!

[Jon_S]

You carry the same amount of alcohol whether you carry the dehydrated stuff or a bottle of grain alcohol. Actually, the dehydrated stuff is heavier since you also are carrying the polysaccharide to which the alcohol is adsorbed.

If you want to get drunk in the woods, you need the millions of molecules of C2H5OH which weighs the same no matter if you bring it in pure (well, the 95% azeotrope probably) or adsorbed to sugar.

Following instructions?

[thieh]

I wonder how many people will actually follow the instructions in mixing these things back to booze. Somehow I am inclined to believe people do not want to follow the instructions and swallow the stuff with as little water as physically possible.

Re:Following instructions?

[reboot246]

I plan on mixing it with dehydrated water.

Re:Following instructions?

[ralphsiegler]

it's just a polysaccharide with alcohol in it, the particular one they use can absorb 60% its weight in alcohol. You're still going to only get the alcohol of a standard drink whether you eat the starchy stuff straight up or put it in a quart of water.

Re: Following instructions?

[gman003]

Ever since I heard the "dehydrated water" joke, I thought it would be a brilliant name for a water-purification powder, like the stuff you use while camping.

Instant water, just add water - but the water you add doesn't have to be clean, and the water you get is drinkable. Memorable brand if nothing else.

Re:Following instructions?

[slew]

I plan on mixing it with dehydrated water.

Unsurprisingly, they also have powered water...

Re:Following instructions?

[SuricouRaven]

The stomach is very bad at absorbing, due to the fairly smooth and acid-proof lining, but small molecules can slip through. Like ethanol or water.

Spiked drinks?

[gurps_npc]

How exactly are you supposed to stick this thing in someone's non-alcoholic drink and them not notice the taste? Or are they talking about adding more alcohol to my martini - in which case, yes please.

They only people that need to worry about this are the teachers at a high school dance. And we all know how effective they are at stopping kids from drinking....

Marketing Hype.

[painandgreed]

You could get even lighter and easier transportability by taking Everclear or some other near 200 proof alcohol and adding flavoring to add to your water. Palcohol is just the same thing that is bound to a powder, most likely tapioca maltodextrin. Similar process is already used in some cooking recipes. You can already make it yourself. It's not some neat way to make alcohol any lighter or more compact.

Re:Dangers

[reboot246]

Alcohol was invented so that even ugly people could have sex.

Re:Imagine the burn...

[trout007]

Hits you fast, right in the face.

We named that "drink" The Chris Brown.

Re:Dangers

[CrimsonAvenger]

America has stupid alcohol laws because Americans are stupid about alcohol.

Or perhaps the reverse - Americans are stupid about alcohol because America has stupid alcohol laws....