LOCO ON LOKO

It’s the Four Loko users that Obama has been wooing on college campuses and is counting on to help save the Democrats in next week’s election.
　
‘BLACKOUT IN A CAN’: CALLS FOR DANGEROUS ALCO-POP ‘FOUR LOKO’ TO BE BANNED AFTER NINE STUDENTS ARE HOSPITALIZED
　
Mail Online
October 26, 2010
　
A high-alcohol caffeinated drink nicknamed ‘blackout in a can' hospitalized nine underage university students in Washington earlier this month, a police investigation has found.
　
The undergraduates from Central Washington University were partying off campus when police found them passed out and ‘very intoxicated’, having drunk a controversial drink called Four Loko, among other spirits.
　
It was the second incident in October which has brought the drink to the attention of authorities following Ramapo College of New Jersey's campus ban after 17 students and six visitors fell ill.

Made up of caffeine, taurine, guarana, and alcohol, the drink is dangerous as it is both a stimulant and a depressant – when combined one does not necessarily feel the effects of the alcohol as the caffeine keeps one awake.
　
This often causes the consumer to drink more of the Four Loko, which is 12 per cent proof and produced by Phusion Projects LLC of Chicago, than they normally would because of the delayed 'drunk' feeling.
　
Originally some of the students thought that they had been drugged, but the latest findings convinced Central Washington University President James Gaudino to ban 'alcohol energy drinks' from his campus.

'We need to make sure that we're sending a strong message to students about the dangers of alcohol energy drinks and we need to know more about the way it affects health and behavior,' he said.
　
Professor Ken Briggs, head of the physical education department, added: '[The drinks are] a binge-drinker's dream because the caffeine and other stimulants allow a drinker to ingest larger volumes of alcohol without passing out.

'Being able to feel the effects of tiredness, loss of coordination and even passing out or vomiting are the body's defenses against consuming doses of alcohol that will kill you.
　
'Regardless, once the blood alcohol level reaches a certain level, you can drop like a box of rocks.'
　
Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna is calling for federal food regulators to ban the beverages.
　
He said: 'They're marketed to kids by using fruit flavors that mask the taste of alcohol and they have such high levels of stimulants that people have no idea how inebriated they really are.
　
'They're packaged just like non-alcoholic drinks, but include a dangerous dose of malt liquor.'
　
Phusion Projects told CNN that they are doing 'all we can to ensure that our products are consumed safely and responsibly'.
　
'The unacceptable incident at Central Washington University, which appears to have involved hard liquor, such as vodka and rum, beer, our products, and possibly illicit substances, is precisely why we go to great lengths to ensure our products are not sold to underage consumers and are not abused,' a company statement said.