One thing that can certainly be said about the alcoholic beverage industry is that they keep trying.  This is not necessarily a good thing, and it would appear that they ran out of good ideas a while ago.

Their most recent attempt at appealing to underage and heavy drinkers can be found on shelves of Cortland County convenience stores under the name “Four Loko”.  The name itself should serve as a tip-off, but in case there is any question, this fine beverage is a 23.5 ounce can of 12% alcohol combined with sufficient energy enhancers (caffeine, taurine and guarana) to keep a person awake and upright long after the blood alcohol level hits the danger zone. 

How much alcohol does Four Loko pack?  Pencils ready… Four Loko is 23.5 oz. of beverage and 12% alcohol.  Therefore, 12% of 23.5 equals 2.82 oz. of alcohol in the container.  A standard drink is about 0.6 oz. of alcohol.  Therefore, Four Loko has 4.7 ‘drinks’ per container. 

 A “40” of beer only contains 3.3 standard drinks.

That, in and of itself, is something to stop and think about.  The Center for Disease Control considers “binge drinking” to be 5 or more standard drinks at one sitting for men, 4 or more for women. 

Why would an individual walk into a store to intentionally purchase a binge? More importantly, to whom would a company market “Binge-in-a-can”?  

In light of the fact that Four Loko is offered in a number of sugary-sweet flavors: Citrus, Grape (Uva Berry), Fruit Punch, Orange Blend, Watermelon, Blue Raspberry, Lemonade, Cranberry Lemonade, and Lemon Lime, it’s a safe assumption that the producers are marketing this to someone other than the 40-year-old businessman or mid-career woman.

Four Loko and its siblings, JOOSE, Liquid Charge and P.I.N.K. spirits are specifically designed to appeal to risk-taking heavy drinkers who don’t want to be annoyed by warning signs that the body is naturally designed to provide when one is nearing the boundaries of alcohol toxicity. 

Interestingly, recent research on adolescent brain development at Brown University and Duke Medical Center, reported by the American Medical Association, indicates strongly that, until about age 22-25, when the brain completes its development, alcohol affects young people differently than older drinker. 

On the whole, says research, young people are far less susceptible to alcohol’s sedative effects, but far more susceptible to its disinhibitory effects.  Simply put, young people stay awake longer to drink more even without the significant blast of caffeine that Four Loko provides.

Deaths resulting from alcohol poisoning by itself are frequently underreported, as are binge-related hospitalizations that result from falls, assaults, aspiration pneumonia and risky behaviors that “seem like a good idea at the time” to the booze sodden brain.  But they’ve been common long before Four Loko came along to add to them, even in Cortland, which, sadly, can be verified by emergency room personnel, EMT’s and others charged with mopping up the mess left by alcohol combined with the idea that “more, to the point of coma, is better”.

Four Loko has been pulled off the shelves by some retailers, including Stewart’s convenience stores.  It isn’t necessary, it isn’t a good idea, and we can live better without it.

For more information on Four Loko and other canned binge drinks, or to find out ways that you can get active in supporting what is and isn’t sold in your community, contact 7V CASA, Inc. at 607-756-8970 or log on to www.cadca.org to learn about the power of community coalitions. 

Joan Stivers is Executive Director of 7V CASA