National Four Loko ban expected any day

[Eraserhead]

To interrupt all the cries of tyranny: It would be pretty easy to make a homemade version of a Four Loko. Just combine a '40 Oz beer, jolly ranchers, and a five hour energy double shot.

False....this stuff is pretty high on the alcohol content...we're talking 15 or 20% or something.  A 40 is (depending on state and brand) somewhere in the 4 to 6% range.  I'm guessing the stuff is made from Everclear (or the aforementioned vodka) and then deluded with the "energy" part and sugar water.

12%... the equivalent of about 5 beers (most common bears have an alcohol convent of around 5%.

What is your current % of alcohol content?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

To interrupt all the cries of tyranny: It would be pretty easy to make a homemade version of a Four Loko. Just combine a '40 Oz beer, jolly ranchers, and a five hour energy double shot.

False....this stuff is pretty high on the alcohol content...we're talking 15 or 20% or something.  A 40 is (depending on state and brand) somewhere in the 4 to 6% range.  I'm guessing the stuff is made from Everclear (or the aforementioned vodka) and then deluded with the "energy" part and sugar water.

12%... the equivalent of about 5 beers (most common bears have an alcohol convent of around 5%.

What is your current % of alcohol content?

Eeks... that was bad.  I'm 100% sober right now... which makes that many spelling errors even more embarrassing.

[Eraserhead]

To interrupt all the cries of tyranny: It would be pretty easy to make a homemade version of a Four Loko. Just combine a '40 Oz beer, jolly ranchers, and a five hour energy double shot.

False....this stuff is pretty high on the alcohol content...we're talking 15 or 20% or something.  A 40 is (depending on state and brand) somewhere in the 4 to 6% range.  I'm guessing the stuff is made from Everclear (or the aforementioned vodka) and then deluded with the "energy" part and sugar water.

12%... the equivalent of about 5 beers (most common bears have an alcohol convent of around 5%.

What is your current % of alcohol content?

Eeks... that was bad.  I'm 100% sober right now... which makes that many spelling errors even more embarrassing.

Heh. You should have just stuck with my excuse!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

What be 'four loko'? What bist it do that is so harmful that it must be banned at once?

[Iosif]

It's a sports 'drink' that's 12% alcohol and has the caffeine of three cups of coffee.

But obviously banning it is a heinous infringement of our civil liberties!!! Fascist government scumbags!

Americans and their melodrama. Offended for the sake of being offended.

[??????????]

Iosif, you like other nanny staters should mind their own. Hopefully people will "illegally" re-create this product.

[Boris]

It's a sports 'drink' that's 12% alcohol and has the caffeine of three cups of coffee.

But obviously banning it is a heinous infringement of our civil liberties!!! Fascist government scumbags!

Americans and their melodrama. Offended for the sake of being offended.

It may sound callous (because it is), but in many ways, it makes more sense to be offended over this than, say, the Iraq War. For many of us, the Iraq War is really nothing more than a bunch of digital pixels on our TV and computer screens. Four Loko, however, has been an instrumental factor in several memorable nights and will undoubtedly form the basis of nostalgic memories a decade down the line when we're all old and frail.

[Iosif]

Iosif, you like other nanny staters should mind their own. Hopefully people will "illegally" re-create this product.

Looks hope they cook meth and snort heroin while they're at it.

[fezzyfestoon]

Iosif, you like other nanny staters should mind their own. Hopefully people will "illegally" re-create this product.

They already do.  This product is nothing new, it's an idiotic knee-jerk reaction to a bunch of handi-tards who can't control themselves.  You can't illegalize everything with alcohol and caffeine in it.  It's just gonna be a little more expensive to have to go out and buy the Red Bulls AND vodka now.

The only people really being melodramatic are the dumbasses making this wholly pointless law of ignorance and idiocy.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

It's a sports 'drink' that's 12% alcohol and has the caffeine of three cups of coffee.

That's completely untrue.  The average cup of coffee has between 100 and 120 mg of caffeine in it (or as low as 80 for brewed coffee instead of drip coffee).  According to ABC News, Four Loko has 156 mg.  It's the equivalent of 1.5 cups of drip coffee, or 2 cups of brewed coffee.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Iosif, you like other nanny staters should mind their own. Hopefully people will "illegally" re-create this product.

They already do.  This product is nothing new, it's an idiotic knee-jerk reaction to a bunch of handi-tards who can't control themselves.  You can't illegalize everything with alcohol and caffeine in it.  It's just gonna be a little more expensive to have to go out and buy the Red Bulls AND vodka now.

The only people really being melodramatic are the dumbasses making this wholly pointless law of ignorance and idiocy.

     Indeed. It only appeals to reactionists who don't understand how easily this sort of thing is circumvented. It would be akin to banning abortion because some people were claiming that it threatened the woman's health.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I just bought some. Time to try it out.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

This stuff just tastes like Sprite + vodka + jolly ranchers....

[patrick1]

I read on some blog that you replicate with 6 watermelon  jollyranchers, a caffeine pill, a 40 of St Ides, a can of sprite and a monster energy can.

[King]

This stuff just tastes like Sprite + vodka + jolly ranchers....

Yep.  Silly to ban such a product, no?

[reagan84]

I've had it before.  I don't think the caffeine is the issue.  It's the 12% alcohol content.  You barely even taste the alcohol so you can chug it and get drunk fast.  2 cans are roughly the equivalent of 8 beers.  I take the libertarian view that I'm not a very big fan of it, I oppose the ban.  I do think that if cans were reduced to 16 oz and alcohol content was lowered from 12% to 8%, it would be much safer.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

This stuff just tastes like Sprite + vodka + jolly ranchers....

Yep.  Silly to ban such a product, no?

Obviously.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Ha there are clearly some cool effects later. I can barely feel my legs. Awesome. I am so buying a couple more cans of this stuff for the weekend. Not for the taste though.

You know it would be pretty interesting to get buzzed on this stuff and then get an "erotic massage"...

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I've had it before.  I don't think the caffeine is the issue.  It's the 12% alcohol content.  You barely even taste the alcohol so you can chug it and get drunk fast.  2 cans are roughly the equivalent of 8 beers.  I take the libertarian view that I'm not a very big fan of it, I oppose the ban.  I do think that if cans were reduced to 16 oz and alcohol content was lowered from 12% to 8%, it would be much safer.

You can taste it.  Most people I know don't really like the taste, and I have yet to see anybody chug a Four Loko.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

For some reason this makes Beavis and Butthead about five times funnier. Even normal alcohol doesn't do that.

[dead0man]

I read on some blog that you replicate with 6 watermelon  jollyranchers, a caffeine pill, a 40 of St Ides, a can of sprite and a monster energy can.

You wouldn't have enough alcohol by volume using that formula.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

If anybody cares, here's the column I just wrote on the subject.  I really wanted to go more in depth on it... stupid word limit:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[patrick1]

I read on some blog that you replicate with 6 watermelon  jollyranchers, a caffeine pill, a 40 of St Ides, a can of sprite and a monster energy can.

You wouldn't have enough alcohol by volume using that formula.

Yeah, not by that much though. Throw in a splash of vodka and you would have it. People are making it sound like this is so strong.  12% ABV is not that much.  I guess for people new to drinking it would be a lot. The caffeine and other stuff is something you have to watch out for though. Being loaded and wide awake is never a good scene. I was in London around when Red Bull first  came out and downed a couple dozen vodka red bulls. Thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest and got the worst hangover.

This is all a moral panic  on the flavor of the week.  There was much more dangerous behavior legal and illegal when I was in school.  We used to mix 95% grain alcohol with kool aid-sometimes with very little to no water. Others doing coke, ritalin and ketamine. Looking back I'm surprised people didn't die- myself included.

[fezzyfestoon]

You can taste it.  Most people I know don't really like the taste, and I have yet to see anybody chug a Four Loko.

Ahem...I LOVE the taste of Four Loko Watermelon and my friend chugged one last weekend.  And yakked it up in a minute...

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I read on some blog that you replicate with 6 watermelon  jollyranchers, a caffeine pill, a 40 of St Ides, a can of sprite and a monster energy can.

You wouldn't have enough alcohol by volume using that formula.

Yeah, not by that much though. Throw in a splash of vodka and you would have it. People are making it sound like this is so strong.  12% ABV is not that much.  I guess for people new to drinking it would be a lot. The caffeine and other stuff is something you have to watch out for though. Being loaded and wide awake is never a good scene. I was in London around when Red Bull first  came out and downed a couple dozen vodka red bulls. Thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest and got the worst hangover.

This is all a moral panic  on the flavor of the week.  There was much more dangerous behavior legal and illegal when I was in school.  We used to mix 95% grain alcohol with kool aid-sometimes with very little to no water. Others doing coke, ritalin and ketamine. Looking back I'm surprised people didn't die- myself included.

It's basically a bottle of wine from an alcohol standpoint... same amount of liquid with the same amount of alcohol.  The thing that makes it complicated is the caffeine, but one Four Loko isn't going to kill anybody, other than maybe some 100 pound girl (who would be pretty messed up from a bottle of wine as well).