Some people just don’t like freedom.
Palcohol—freeze-dried alcohol in powder form—received the go-ahead from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau last week. Several states have already moved to ban it, including Colorado. It was just a matter of time before someone wanted to ban it nation-wide.
And indeed, it took mere days for a kill-joy in the form of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to start scheming against Americans’ right to sprinkle powdered alcohol over their cheeseburgers.
“I am in total disbelief that our federal government has approved such an obviously dangerous product, and so, Congress must take matters into its own hands and make powdered alcohol illegal,” Schumer said in a statement. “Underage alcohol abuse is a growing epidemic with tragic consequences and powdered alcohol could exacerbate this.”
Schumer has titled his anti-Palcohol bill “The Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Reauthorization (STOP) Act.”
The anti-Palcohol crowd has conjured up various fears about what the substance could do to the youths of America, including encouraging them to snort it or making it easier to spike drinks. Palcohol has addressed most of these concerns on its website, noting that people already snort a number of questionable substances and “just because a few goofballs use a product irresponsibly doesn’t mean you ban it.” As for drink-spiking, Palcohol actually takes several minutes to work into a drink, making it far from ideal for nefarious purposes.
The website specifically calls out Schumer’s legislation, writing, “So why aren’t legislators trying to ban liquid alcohol if banning something is the way to prevent alcohol misuse and abuse? It’s HYPOCRITICAL to be calling for a ban on powdered alcohol and not liquid alcohol. The reason they’re not asking for liquor to be banned is because the legislators are in the pocket of the liquor industry with their big money.”
The company also lists all the beneficial uses for Palcohol, including possible medical uses in remote areas where liquid alcohol is difficult to transport. Other uses include hiking, airplane hospitality, and adult ice cream.
