It’s been exactly a week since my last article on Four Loko (“Wilmington Takes A Harder Look At Four Loko”) and in that time a lot has changed. In fact, Four Loko went from being a potential menace (especially if you drink more than one) and college party favorite to a banned drink. How exactly did this happen so fast?

Well, actually, it didn’t happen that fast. According to Discover Magazine (in 2009) the FDA requested proof that the caffeinated alcohol drinks were safe back in 2009. The list of companies notified to look into their products’ safety is here. State regulators did not wait for the FDA – Michigan, New York, and Utah among other states banned the sale of Four Loko in their state before the FDA sent their warning letter on November 17.

Students that drink Four Loko are more likely to engage in dangerous behavior, according to Federal officials.

These facts, and other developments (hospitalizations of binge drinking students, a study that showed that caffeinated alcohol drinks cause more sexual violence and more dangerous behavior in general) led to a not so rosy outlook for Four Loko and its kind. In fact, on Nov. 16 Phusion Products, the makers of Four Loko, presumably anticipating the FDA’s letter, announced they were removing caffeine, guarana, and taurine from their drinks.

The reaction to this was somewhat predictable.  Philly Post writer Jeff Billman in his article “Leave Four Loko Alone” said:

“But: Do you really think that banning Four Loko, or anything else for that matter, is going to stop kids from figuring out that if they chug a Red Bull in between sessions of Coors Light or Jose Cuervo or whatever cheap vodka comes in plastic jugs and in bulk from the BJ’s across the state line in Delaware, they’ll be able to stay awake longer and, consequently, drink more? I had that figured out well before the advent of Four Loko, and I can assure you that, in this, the information age, the kids today are much better informed on these things than I was as a college frosh in 1997. If I want a particularly late-night bender—a rarer and rare occurrence these days—downing one of those five-hour energy shots does the trick. Oh, and those are totally legal. So is downing one, and following it with six shots of Jack Daniel’s.”

Er, yes, that is true.  But comparing a five-hour energy shot with Four Loko is unfair.  After all, a five-hour energy shot does not contain alcohol.  Nor is it packaged with alcohol, and my guess would be if the packaging expressed that it works well with six shots of Jack Daniel’s that they would be receiving a letter from the FDA as well.  Vague comparisons of dissimilar products aren’t going to get you very far.

Meanwhile, over at the Miami New Times, you could hear Kyle Munzenrieder make the “nanny state” argument:

“In a treacherous blow to the personal freedoms of Americans and Capitalism itself the FDA is expected to ban the sale of caffeinated alcohol drinks as soon as next week. Yes, alcohol and caffeine, two perfectly legal and widely available substances will not be allowed to be sold together in one can. The move comes after in the midst of the Four Loko craze.”

You may have a point when you make that argument (I wouldn’t say the ban is necessarily a good or bad thing) but it’s not really fair to make that argument in this manner:

“Researchers are concerned that caffeine counterbalances some of the effects of alcohol and may lead drinkers to believer they are less drunk then they are. That’s a valid point, yet the mixing of the two substances isn’t going away any time soon. While the pre-made mixtures will apparently now be banned, it’s unlikely Americans will stop drinking these find mixtures of caffeine and booze:

Rum and Coke
Vodka and Redbull
Irish Coffee
Espresso martinis
Shots followed by a Five Hour Energy chaser
Cafecito and Cisco”

Yes, Americans are still going to drink rum and coke, but no, that’s not really the same thing. Irish coffee has not been the scourge of college campuses lately. Nor have rum and cokes. Why is that? Because they contain vastly different quantities of caffeine and alcohol. Make a 6.5 oz rum and coke with 40% ABV rum and your drink will contain 0.6 oz of alcohol and 14.5 mg of caffeine. Make a version of it more generously sized and you are still nowhere near Four Loko. This recipe calls for 4 oz of Bacardi white rum (37.5% ABV) and 8 oz of Coca Cola (35 mg of caffeine in a 12 oz can). This drink will probably cost you more at the bar, and still only have 23.3 mg of caffeine and 1.5 oz of alcohol (4 oz x .375). This is compared to Four Loko, which has one serving size (23.5 oz) and contains 156 mg of caffeine and 2.82 oz of alcohol. Even two of those hefty rum and cokes wouldn’t have as much caffeine as a Four Loko. I don’t that anyone ever binges on Irish Coffees, but if you are drinking an average sized Irish Coffee (a 7.5 oz serving, plus cream on top) you’re only going to consume about 0.6 oz of alcohol and 90 mg of caffeine. Again, just not the same.

Four Loko, towering over the competition.

The other problem in Four Loko land (as we’ve pointed out before) is the serving size. It’s a carbonated beverage so once you crack open the can, you’re more or less forced to consume/get rid of it or have it go flat. Unlike vodka (which Arrested Development’s Lindsay Bluth memorably and mistakenly believed “goes bad once it’s opened”) Four Loko cannot really be consumed in moderation. Fortunately we can cap our whiskey, rum, and vodka bottles. In fact, that’s part of the design – if vodka was packaged to “go bad” within a few hours, you can bet it wouldn’t be on the market.

Was the ban the smartest thing ever? That seems to me to be another debate. It also seems to me that comparing a mixed drink like a rum and coke to Four Loko does not have a place in that debate. After all, Four Loko is a real product on a real shelf – nobody is selling rum and cokes in a can. The FDA’s job is to regulate real products. And again, if they did sell rum and coke in a can, that would probably have not caught the FDA’s attention – if the can was 12 oz instead of 23.5. Caffeine and alcohol together are not necessarily going to send you to the hospital or make you have a violent freak out, but moderation when consuming the two simultaneously is more even important than when consuming one or the other separately. Phusion Products ended up creating a product that fell a little far outside the lines of moderation. Four Loko is just oversized in almost every sense (except price, which Cord Jefferson thinks may’ve played a role in its being banned). My guess is that if Phusion Products had not tried to create the craziest thing on the market, their product would probably still be on the market.

Post by Robyn Schelenz. Have any thoughts, comments, or disagreements you wish to share? Send me an email over at robyn at homehealthtesting.com and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Headline photo by Ted S. Warren/Associated Press.