FDA pursues alcoholic 'energy' drinks

[madfranks]

I have one (correction: used to have one) of these maybe once a month. Nice flavor, caffeine wakes you up and just enough alcohol to loosen you up. But the bastards at the FDA must protect us from this "toxic brew". The nanny state strikes again. Nice to live in the land of the free. ::)

FDA pursues alcoholic 'energy' drinks (http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/11/25/FDA-pursues-alcoholic-energy-drinks/UPI-66241290718137/)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says makers of alcoholic energy drinks have made "significant progress" in complying with the agency's new regulations.

Last week, the FDA issued warning letters to four manufacturers of the drinks that the caffeine in the high-alcohol drinks is an "unsafe food additive," ABC News reported.

Phusion Projects, the Chicago-based manufacturer of Four Loko, had said before receiving the FDA warning it would remove caffeine-containing ingredients from their beverages.

United Brands said it has stopped shipping its drink, Joose, and will have the product off store shelves by December 13.

The company also said it will no longer market Max, another beverage mentioned in the FDA's letter.

Two other companies, Charge Beverages and New Century Brewing, told the FDA they would no longer manufacture any caffeinated alcoholic beverages.

While the FDA letter did not constitute an outright ban, the agency said it was a first step in that direction.

"(It's) part of the process that FDA uses that leads to these products being removed from the market," Joshua Sharfstein, FDA principal deputy commissioner, said.

Four states and a number of college campuses have banned the sale of the alcoholic energy drinks.

[Libertytree]

Yeah, they're cracking down in Florida too, two or three of our products will be allowed to sell out but after that they will be shipping a new formula of said drinks. The funny thing is, this one thing is the thing that the peasants are pissed about...they rant and I just shake my head, roll eyes and ROFL.

[BrewTech]

Four Loko got its name because it sends the person who consumed it into FOUR STAGES OF CRAZY:

Stage 1: Tipsy (loud, might stumble, laugh)
Stage 2: Drunk (embarassing, stumbling, slight slur)
Stage 3: Wasted (heavy slur, falling, hitting on fat girls)
Stage 4: Black Out (no ability to speak, vomiting, waking up next to a fat girl, memory loss)

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=four%20loco

__________________________________________________ __________________________________

On November 17, 2010 the U.S. FDA Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to four manufacturers of caffeinated alcohol beverages.[3] It declared that beverages such as Four energy drinks that combine caffeine with alcohol are a "public health concern" and can't stay on the market in their current form.[4][5]
The four companies receiving the warning letter are:

* Charge Beverages Corp.: Core High Gravity HG, Core High Gravity HG Orange, and Lemon Lime Core Spiked
* New Century Brewing Co., LLC: Moonshot
* Phusion Projects, LLC (doing business as Drink Four Brewing Co.): Four Loko
* United Brands Company Inc.: Joose and Max

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm234109.htm

[Libertytree]

Lol, no wonder these people are buying 12 pks of these things!

Hmmm....I might suggest that we buy the whole lot of remaining inventory from the wholesaler, supply/demand ;D

[BrewTech]

Lol, no wonder these people are buying 12 pks of these things!

Hmmm....I might suggest that we buy the whole lot of remaining inventory from the wholesaler, supply/demand ;D


I have 1 can of "Joose" in my fridge... I didn't buy it but I'll gladly sell it to the highest bidder!

[Libertytree]

I have a cooler full of that crap but I'm not and have not tried it.

[Twisted Titan]

4 Loco will command a nice premium in the underground market

A few shops in NYC bumped up the price because they wont restock it.


T

[Hillbilly]

What about Irish Coffee? are they going to ban that too? pretty soon you will have to show ID to buy your Booze and Coffee because you might be mixing up an illegal concoction at home.

[SLV^GLD]

Thank you, FDA, for mandating away the need for personal responsibility. Wait until the kids discover coffee stouts, or as Percival pointed out, spiked coffee drinks. I suppose we'll need to ban bars from mixing vodka with redbull while we're at it. This makes me sick.

[Light]

The drink has come under major fire as colleges and universities across the nation have begun to see injuries and blackouts due to the drink's use. The University of Rhode Island banned this product from their campus on November 5, 2010.[9] The state of Washington banned Four Loko after nine university students aged 17 to 19 from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington became ill at a house party in Roslyn, Washington. The university students were hospitalized and one university student, with a blood alcohol level of .30, almost died.[10]
Dangers
See also: Caffeinated alcoholic energy drinks

Four Loko's potential danger comes from mixing caffeine and alcohol. When alcohol and caffeine are combined, people have reported a reduction of the sensations typically associated with alcohol; this is believed to be a result of caffeine counteracting the depressive effects and keeping the individual more alert.[11] However, when the caffeine wears off the person feels the full effects of the alcohol. This can lead to excess consumption of alcohol because the delayed feeling of drunkenness leads an individual to seek additional alcohol to obtain the same sensations as those found in previous encounters.[12]

A study done at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, found that students who mixed caffeine and alcohol thought they were capable of driving more often than those who drank non-caffeinated alcoholic drinks.[13]

[SLV^GLD]

If you can legally obtain alcohol then you can decide how wasted you want to get and DYODD on the effects of combining the drug with stimulants. This is akin to making it illegal to buy No-Doz and Wine in the same transaction at CVS. It accomplishes nothing. Education about the synergistic effects is all that is needed in the face of this problem.

[Libertytree]

It's the same sh!t with all these mandated decrees that purport to be for the kids' own good. Example" Pure Grain alcohol used to be 190 proof but a few college dumbasses chugged it, got sick and or died. The PTB step in and decree that something had to done! So, now PGA is 150 proof, in most states. Does anyone really think that a 40 point reduction in proofage stopped anything? Hell NO!

The people who are the most pissed about it are mechanics that used it to clean carbs, it was far superior to any store bought stuff and an excellent wound cleaner to boot.

[Hillbilly]

Kids these days! what ever happened to taking tylenol Pm or Benadryl and going for a nice long drive in the country?

[Buddha]

I've drank 4Loko a few times with a friend. It's alright, tastes like crap but will get you hyped up and wasted at the same time. Downing 1 at 12% abv isn't bad, will get you a good buzz. Do 2 though in a shorter amount of time and you will be on stage 3 or 4 of the loko. Apparently the mission is to drink one in 15 minutes,then the next if you can (most can't :) )

Trying to ban this stuff is completely asinine however. Hard liquor is much worse (not that I'm advocating the banning of hard liquor). This is all because some kids in Washington state got messed up and hospitalized drinking it. I'm sure they would have been in even worse shape if they were drinking vodka or gin like they were the 4Loko

All in all it is the same as a gun haters argument against guns. Guns and alcohol don't kill/harm people, people kill/harm people.

[midnight rambler]

Thank you, FDA, for mandating away the need for personal responsibility. Wait until the kids discover coffee stouts, or as Percival pointed out, spiked coffee drinks. I suppose we'll need to ban bars from mixing vodka with redbull while we're at it. This makes me sick.


Red Bull and alcohol is truly a toxic brew.

http://www.rense.com/general88/bull.htm