Four Loko is a No No!

      You probably see them everywhere.  College students with the large colorful cans are plastered all over facebook and you can't walk into any party without seeing at least one person drinking it.  "Four Loko," is the new craze that is sweeping college campuses nationwide by storm, but no one really knows how dangerous they are.  I feel it is important for students to know the dangers of these drinks and they way they effect your health and behavior, to the point where law makers want to ban it.


      Four teens in White Plains, Nine Central Washington students, and 23 students in New Jersey have been hospitalized only this month after being sickened, and almost seemed drugged, from the alcoholic beverage.  Some police reports from the hospitalizations have found kids with a blood alcohol level of .3 --- which could kill you!

      For those of you who are unfamiliar with Four Loko, it is a caffeinated malt liquor which as also been nicknamed, "blackout in a can," "cocaine in a can," and "a binge drinker's dream."  Self explanatory? Basically Four Loko gets you very drunk, very fast.  It is 12% alcohol by volume in 24oz can, combining as much alcohol equivalent to a six pack of beer mixed with a couple cups of coffee.  Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna who is calling for federal food regulators to ban the beverages explains, "They're marketed to kids by using fruit flavors that mask the taste of alcohol and they have such high levels of stimulants that people have no idea how inebriated they really are.  They're packaged just like non-alcoholic drinks, but include a dangerous dose of malt liquor."

      Before choosing this drink you should understand that the large amounts of caffiene and other stimulants in Four Loko is extremely dangerous because it keeps you awake allowing you to drink more volumes of alcohal without passing out.  Tiredness and passing are some of Mother Nature's way in which your body defences against consuming amounts of alcohal that will kill you.  Dr. Manny Alvarez, FoxNews senior managing editor of health, said in a news story. "Fatigue is your body's way of telling you it's had enough, so fooling the body with stimulants creates the perfect scenario for acute alcohol poisoning and potentially death."


      Phusion Products, the makers of Four Loko, have defended themselves by stating they are doing "all we can to ensure that our products are consumed safely and responsibly.  When consumed responsibly, (our products) are just as safe as any other alcohalic beverage."  They even added that they shouldn't be critized because they  weren't the ones who invented the concept of caffiene mixed with alcohal.  What about rum & Cokes?  Or vodka Red Bulls?


      What do you think?  After hearing this will you still drink Four Loko?  Will you stay away?  Should it be banned or should kids be held accountable for their own consumption?






Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXgm01r_wBU 
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/health/2010/10/26/nr.alcoholic.energy.drink.cnn 



Reference/Links:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/25/washington.students.overdose/index.html?hpt=T2 

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/s1803988.shtml 

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/10/post_297.html