Tim Perkins, a 23-year-old Omaha musician, says that after a hard day, he and his friends like to drink the controversial beverage Four Loko because its alcohol is relaxing and its caffeine “does give you an energy boost.”
Never mind the warnings and the talk of a federal ban he calls “absolutely ridiculous.”
“If I'm tired from work or school all day and want to have some fun with friends, it's nice to be able to get going again,” he said. “Also, at 12 percent alcohol, it's pretty economical to get going and relaxed quicker for under three bucks.”
But the Omahan will soon be denied his favored beverage after the maker of Four Loko announced late Tuesday that it would remove the caffeine and two other ingredients from its product.
The company's announcement came just hours before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration effectively banned it and other similar caffeinated alcoholic drinks.
After a year's study and prodding from critics, the FDA issued warning letters Wednesday to four manufacturers of alcoholic energy drinks often consumed by college students, saying the caffeine added to their beverages is an "unsafe food additive."
The combination of caffeine and alcohol in the drinks creates a public health concern and can lead to "a state of wide-awake drunk," said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.
Evidence has shown their consumption has led to alcohol poisoning, car accidents and assaults, she said.
The companies have 15 days to respond to the letters and either explain how they will take their products off the market or defend their drinks as safe.
The maker of Four Loko said the products were being singled out unfairly and that the company had tried unsuccessfully to deal with “a difficult and politically-charged regulatory environment at both the state and federal levels.”
“We have repeatedly contended ... that the combination of alcohol and caffeine is safe,” said Chris Hunter, Jeff Wright and Jaisen Freeman, co-founders of Four Loko manufacturer Phusion Projects.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who has lobbied for a ban, predicted that the FDA ruling would “be the nail in the coffin of these dangerous and toxic drinks.”
Although the mixing of alcohol and caffeine is older than Irish coffee, the battle over whether government should crack down on the newer canned concoctions has brewed hot in recent months, fueled by news stories about young drinkers landing in trouble or the hospital after consuming the cheap, sweet beverages in candy-colored cans.
Critics — including a Nebraska advocacy group fighting to get the drinks reclassified and taxed as spirits instead of beer — say concoctions like Four Loko and Joose are an insidious combination, luring young drinkers by appealing to their thin wallets, their sweet tooth and their inexperience distinguishing between the romance and reality of danger. The stimulative effect of caffeine, they say, masks intoxication, fooling the inexperienced into deeper drunkenness.
Four Loko, in particular, has popped critics' tops with its large cans — 23.5 ounces, double the size of an average beer — and tropically colorful packaging. Nicknamed “blackout in a can,” it was little more than an invitation to binge drinking, detractors say.
Originally boasting alcohol content comparable to wine and the caffeine punch of a Starbucks tall coffee, the beverage was sold in eight fruit flavors, its manufacturer said. College-party-driven marketing spread Four Loko to 47 states.
An FDA crackdown is the chaser to vigorous campaigns against such drinks.
Accustomed to fighting youth alcohol abuse, colleges, doctors, lawmakers and regulators have scrambled to confront the newer, less understood threat of combining high amounts of alcohol with ample caffeine.
Liquor authorities in several states — including New York, Michigan, Oklahoma, Washington, Montana and Utah — have banned or restricted the sales of the drinks.
Some colleges, too, have banned the beverages. Central Washington University acted after a widely publicized incident last month. Police called to a party near the school found so many unconscious students in a house that they suspected they had fallen victim to a date rape drug. Several were hospitalized.
Officials at the University of Nebraska's Omaha and Lincoln campuses described Four Loko and its kin as worrisome but not yet a big problem here. Some hesitated to discuss Four Loko for fear of encouraging a trend.
“To some degree, it's just emerging,” said Dennis McChargue, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln psychology professor whose substance abuse clinic treats underage students caught drinking. He said the caffeinated alcoholic drinks could magnify the more common bane of bingeing.
Iowa colleges recently got warning flyers from the state's Alcoholic Beverages Division, said spokesman Tonya Dusold, and the Iowa attorney general joined 17 national counterparts in seeking FDA intervention.
Before the announcements this week, most of the fight against these drinks had been at the state level. In Nebraska, the advocacy group Project Extra Mile has sued over the way drinks such as Four Loko are classified and taxed. Such “second-generation alcopops” should be deemed spirits, not beer, and taxed at $3.75 instead of 31 cents a gallon, said Diane Riibe, executive director. A Nov. 30 hearing is set in Lancaster County District Court.
On the receiving end of the suit, the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission says it relies on the guidance of federal regulators.
Executive Director Hobert Rupe said Four Loko is a quick drunk, like sweet, bargain-basement wines popular 30 years ago, but said such flavored alcoholic beverages command only 1.5 percent of Nebraska's beer market.
Perkins said kids are still going to be able to mix their own caffeinated drinks.
“The bottom line is if you drink too much of anything it will be bad for you,” he said.
This report includes material from the Associated Press.
Contact the writer: 402-444-1140, roger.buddenberg@owh.com
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