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Four Loko to change formula after U.S. ban

(New York Daily News) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned Four Loko, a popular alcoholic beverage. The drink that combines alcohol and caffeine will be removed from store shelves on Dec. 13. Four Loko, dubbed "blackout in a can," became the centre of controversy after several students across the country were sent to hospital after drinking it. Colleges and universities started banning Four Loko after these kinds of incidents started happening and many outlets stopped selling the product. Since the bans began, fans of the drink have been stocking up wherever they can find it. Once the ban comes into action, Four Loko will no longer be available in its caffeinated form.

1.

What is Four Loko?

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Four Loko is an energy drink combined with alcohol content as high as 12.5 per cent. Phusion Projects, the company behind the drink, specializes in drinks that combine flavour, alcohol and caffeine. The beverage became popular with college students because of its $2.50 price and how fast it can get a person drunk. Four Loko earned the nicknames "blackout in a can" for being comparable in alcoholic content to a six-pack of beer and "crack of beer" for tasting better than beer because of the fruit flavours. Phusion Projects has defended their product since coming under government scrutiny for possible health risks posed by the drink's ingredients.

2.

Energy drinks and alcohol – a bad combination

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Combining alcohol and caffeine isn't new. Consumers have been mixing alcohol with popular energy drinks like Red Bull and Venom. Steve Clarke is director of the College Alcohol Abuse Prevention Center. Clarke warns students they should be careful when combining alcohol and caffeine. He says when your body feels fatigued from drinking alcohol, it's your body telling you you've had enough. Combining caffeine and alcohol to stay awake can be a dangerous thing because it fights against what your body wants. The National Institute of Health says combining the two substances puts a person at risk of heart rhythm problems.

3.

Four Loko’s response – a formula change

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Amidst all the criticism against Four Loko, Phusion Projects announced it will be changing the drink's formula. The most significant difference with the new version is that it will no longer include caffeine. Phusion Projects has been under constant pressure from state governments and the FDA to make its product safer for public consumption. When the FDA announced that Four Loko would be banned, Phusion Projects had no other choice than to remove the combination of caffeine and alcohol. Phusion Projects maintained that there is nothing wrong with mixing alcohol and caffeine. The company said they only changed the formula because of government pressure.

4.

A history of banned drinks

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Four Loko isn't the first alcoholic beverage to be banned in recent years. Sparks was another caffeine-alcohol mix that eventually had its caffeine removed because of public pressure. Everclear is a drink that is 95 per cent alcohol and has been banned in several states. Cristal, a signature hip-hop drink was boycotted in 1996 after rapper Jay-Z called the brand "racist." Absinthe was banned throughout the United States because it was more than 75 per cent alcohol and linked to hallucinations and brain damage. Dan Okrent is an author on the subject of prohibition. He says even though combining alcohol and caffeine is something many people do, the only thing the government can do about it is ban drinks that come pre-mixed.

5.

Four Loko for sale on Craigslist

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Once the ban of Four Loko was announced, fans of the drink looked for any place they could find it. This resulted in an online battle amongst bidders on Craigslist with sellers making huge profits. Supporters of Four Loko have been searching the Internet for personal ads and bidding websites in a last-ditch effort to stock up on the drink. There is no way for sellers to confirm that they're selling the drink to a buyer who is at last 21 years old, the legal drinking age in the U.S. Several stores are also looking to cash in, selling the drink for a price as high as $8.00, a significant increase over its original price of $2.50.