Senator Calls for Ban on Powdered Alcohol

A powdered form of freeze-dried alcohol could be on shelves in Connecticut this summer and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal is calling for a federal ban on it.

The product, Palcohol, is a powdered version of vodka, rum, and three cocktails -- cosmopolitan, lemon drop and their own version of a margarita, called a Powderita, according to the company’s Web site. It’s designed to be mixed with something, like soda or juice or water and made into an alcoholic drink, the Web site says, but Blumenthal said it could be used in far more dangerous ways.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approved Palcohol last month, and Blumenthal said it should not have received federal approval.

The manufacturer, Lipsmark, had suggested in the past that the product could be snorted to get drunk “almost instantly,” and that it could be added to foods, including guacamole, eggs and sandwiches, and even snuck into events, according to a news release from Blumenthal’s office, which said the suggestions have since been scrubbed from the company’s website.

“Without further safety testing, Palcohol is a tragedy waiting to happen. It is simply inconceivable that the product received federal approval in the first place, without rigorous assessments of the product’s safety,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “Powdered alcohol that can be snorted, or surreptitiously snuck into school cafeterias, punchbowls and breakfast foods is simply a terrible idea. If federal regulators cannot or will not do the right thing to properly evaluate this product’s potential threat to public safety, legislators must take action to ban Palcohol and prevent this dangerous product from hitting store shelves this summer.”

Palcohol’s Web site now says criticisms of Palcohol are just speculation because no one has tried it yet.

“Listen, people can snort black pepper....so do we ban it? No, just because a few goofballs use a product irresponsibly doesn't mean you ban it. But even the goofballs won't snort Palcohol due to the pain the alcohol would cause. It really burns. Imagine sniffing liquid vodka. Second, it's impractical. It takes approximately 60 minutes to snort the equivalent of one shot of vodka. Why would anyone do that when they can do a shot of liquid vodka in two seconds?,” the Palcohol Web site says.