Tuesday, October 26, 2010
"BLACKOUT IN A CAN"
A new, but fairly popular alcoholic drink has been dubbed "blackout in a can". Four Loko is an alcoholic energy drink that blends caffeine and liquor. If you haven't heard of it, or even tried it yet, it is fairly new and has been over the news all day today on various news stations. It is currently being evaluated by the FDA for safeness. The producers of Four Loko said that it sells its products to people of age and people have been mixing caffeine and alcohol in products for years and have been fine. One can of Four Loko is equivalent to six beers! So if you drink two cans then you have basically just drank a 12-pack by yourself. The product grew attention when college students in Washington state went to the hospital and the hospital though that they had been a victim of a date rape drug but later found out that the students were only drinking Four Loko. The drink has hospitalized 12 students and nearly killed one. Many Universities as well as some states are looking at banning the product. This shows that the copy cat effect is not only suitable for individuals but for states and institutions as well. Because I can bet that if one University or state bans this drink, there will surely be those that follow.
My opinion on the situation? The can clearly notes that the drink is 12% alcohol which is a lot more than most canned drinks with the average wine cooler having only 4-6% alcohol content. If you are old enough to drink I think that you should be able to judge how much you can handle. However, a specialist that was interviewed said that the mix of caffeine and alcohol makes it hard to judge how much you can handle and slows your reaction time (like every other alcoholic beverage). I say the students should take it as a learning experience. Personally I've tried it once, yes I'm 21, and it had a disgusting taste and I never want to try the stuff again. For those of you that do, and are 21, it comes in nine flavors, so pick your poison (literally). But please be careful! It packs a mighty punch and will probably leave you with one heck of a hangover in the morning if you don't watch it.
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Oh wow! That's crazy! I've seen my friends drink those before, and I would definitely agree that it's way harder to judge how much alcohol you've had when drinking a Four Lokos. One of my friends told me that they "only had one and a half," but from what you found, that's actually a lot of alcohol!!! At least their ad stated that their product contains alcohol in big letters at the top.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about the same thing! I think it's crazy that these drinks are causing so many issues. I'm sure that thousands of young adults consume these drinks weekly and plenty of them don't have issues. There's always going to be reports of people consuming too much alcohol and getting alcohol poisoning. I think it's important to be aware of this, and be more cautious if one decides to drink this gross alcoholic drink. Whatever happened to a normal rum and coke?
ReplyDeleteApparently the caffeine combined with the alcohol makes the consumer feel less drunk (due to the stimulating effects of the caffeine.) Thus the average fourloko drinker is more likely to drive drunk versus the average beer drinker because they actually think they are less intoxicated.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely relate to this article. I did try Four Loko and unfortunately love the stuff. I had no idea it was the equivalent of 6 beers though! I drank a whole one once, not expecting it to creep up on me so fast. I learned my lesson real quick though & found out that one is certainly more than enough for me. Luckily nothing extreme happened and I didn't end up in the hospital like the people in the article, but I will never drink a full one EVER again!
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting. I had never heard about this until you posted about it, but I am sure that you are right and if one state or school bands this drink there will be several right behind them. I am also 100% sure that JMU will be right on the bandwagan, since we are all about cleaning up our image!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I will be trying this..
ReplyDeleteI sometimes drink these. I think the drink isn't really the problem, like you said. I think it's problems with people's self control. One Four Loko will get me happily drunk, and there is no need to go over that. There is a huge push in our culture for drinking tons of alcohol in one night. I am not saying drinking is bad, I am just saying keep your head on straight and you wont go to the hospital.
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