Founder of ‘Palcohol’ says powdered alcohol is safe but Aussie experts are worried

MARCH 12, 2015
News.com.au

NOTHING says hiking like a nice refreshing shot of vodka. That’s the bizarre argument from the people pushing ‘Palcohol’, a powdered alcohol product legalised overnight in the US despite protests from just about everybody.
“When I hike, I like to have a drink when I reach my destination. Palcohol is so light and easy to pack. It’s perfect for hiking and backpacking,” founder Mark Phillips said.
The product received the go-ahead from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau on Wednesday after protracted negotiations between the authority and the product’s designers.
The Bureau initially approved Palcohol last year but quickly backtracked, citing unresolved issues. Spokesman for the bureau Tom Hogue told The Associated Press that all issues have now been resolved and Palcohol is legal, though individual states will determine whether or not they allow retailers to sell the product.
Mr Hogue said the bureau’s evaluation does not take into account potential harm.
“Potential for abuse isn’t grounds for us to deny a label,” he said.
So how does it work?
Consumers can purchase the powder in a bag containing the equivalent of one shot of liquid alcohol. The designers want consumers to add water, zip up the bag, give it a shake and “drink straight from the bag”. Yes, it’s classy.
In a video published online, Mr Phillips sought to clarify concerns surrounding the product including that it will make it easier to sneak alcohol into festivals and concerts, easier to spike a person’s drink, easier for children to get a hold of and will promote snorting of alcohol.
“What a crazy few weeks this has been since the public discovered Palcohol,” Mr Phillips said.
“Since Palcohol was discovered, we’ve mostly heard about the negative uses of it. Those are unfounded. It is unfortunate that most of the media coverage has been negative.”
He said snorting Palcohol “is very painful” and “it burns a lot”.
“It would take about one hour to snort (one standard drink) of powder. You won’t get drunk faster by snorting powdered alcohol and you’ll go through a lot of pain.”
Mr Phillips argued powdered alcohol will be harder to conceal because “the bag is too big” and that it would take “at least a minute of stirring” for powder to dissolve if one were to attempt to spike another’s drink.
He also said the same restrictions would apply to the sale of Palcohol as apply to liquid alcohol.
“Only adults with proper identification can buy it,” he said.
But experts say the risks of abuse are too high for it to be approved.
Jim Mosher from the John Hopkins School of Public Health told ABC News last year that Palcohol “is a product we don’t need”.
“We don’t have any research on this, but the notion that you’d be snorting alcohol in a powdered form — [there is] the potential for abuse and for really serious damage to the brain and potentially death.”
Geoff Munro from the Australian Drug Foundation said the organisation is anti-Palcohol.
“When we heard about it last year we were concerned about the product and we wouldn’t want to see it available in Australia,” he told news.com.au.
“Youth drinking is slowly declining and parents are helping children avoid drinking.
“A product like powdered alcohol is an anti-social product, it would be easier to disguise and use unsupervised and we know that young people are attracted to the novelty of new things.”
Mr Munro said it was quite likely an Australian entrepreneur would attempt to bring Palcohol to Australia.
Several states in the US have already moved to ban powdered alcohol, including politicians in Colorado who last month advanced legislation to temporarily halt its sale.
A statement on the Palcohol website says the company hopes to have the product for sale by the middle of the year.
It will be available as vodka and rum and three cocktail versions: Cosmopolitan, Margarita and Lemon Drop.