Four Loko saysgoodbye to caffeine

By Caitlin Yilek, Staff Writer -- yilek12@up.edu

Imagine consuming a bottle of wine, a tall Starbucks coffee and a McDonald's cheeseburger Happy Meal with a coke.

Essentially, the amount of alcohol, caffeine and calories found in all of those is what you get in a 23.5-ounce can of Four Loko.

Four Loko is a controversial caffeinated drink containing 12 percent alcohol that comes in eight different flavors such as lemonade, fruit punch and watermelon. The name "Four" originates from the four main ingredients: caffeine, taurine, guarana — all stimulants — and a malt liquor.

Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission sent warning letters to the makers of Four Loko and similar caffeinated alcoholic beverages. The letter from the FDA said the caffeine added to the malt alcoholic beverages was an "unsafe food additive." The FDA added that further action, including seizure of Four Loko products, is possible under federal law.

The letter from the FTC took aim at the company's marketing practices.

Anticipating federal action against their product, a day earlier Phusion Projects of Chicago, the company that produces Four Loko, announced its intent to remove caffeine, taurine and guarana from its products.

According to the FDA, one of the main health concerns is that the consumption of these kinds of beverages can lead to risky behaviors because caffeine can mask the effects of alcohol.

Four Loko is also known to raise the drinker's heart rate and blood pressure.

Several states have already banned Four Loko. The Oregon Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission is reviewing the drink, and some Oregon stores pulled it from their shelves after nine students from Central Washington University were hospitalized after drinking Four Loko.

Last week, Washington's Liquor Control Board approved an emergency ban of caffeinated alcohol drinks effective today. The ban was initiated after the Central Washington University incident.

Rampano College in New Jersey also banned the drink from campus shortly after multiple college students consumed potentially lethal amounts of Four Loko.

Sophomore Chris Roberts agrees with the states' decisions to ban Four Loko.

"I've been encouraging peers not to drink Four Loko," Roberts said. "People need to be smart when drinking it."

Roberts had his first experience with Four Loko during his freshman year at UP. Though Roberts no longer drinks it, he says that when he did, he would not consume more than one a night and rarely drank Four Loko.

"It gets you drunk," Roberts said. "The caffeine masks the effects of the alcohol, and if you are drinking it quickly, you don't feel anything so you keep drinking. Once the caffeine wears off, it is bad news from there."

Roberts says he enjoyed the taste of Four Loko, but once he learned about its dangers he stopped drinking it.

"I have never had any bad experiences with it myself," Roberts said. "But I've been around people drinking Lokos and getting super sick."

Roberts believes companies that produce and promote caffeinated energy drinks such as Four Loko should give consumers more information regarding these drinks and make it clear how dangerous they are.

The manufacturers of caffeinated alcohol drinks are also being criticized for targeting young people in their ads and promotions. The FTC, in yesterday's warning letter, said the companies' marketing of these drinks may constitute unfair or deceptive trade practices, in violation of federal law.

Last summer, sophomore Matt Panther worked for United Brands — the company that produces Joose, a caffeinated alcohol drink similar to Four Loko. Panther promoted the drink at fraternity parties and outside nightclubs in Seattle, Wash.

"I was taught to promote how fun the drink was using slogans like ‘Let the Joose loose' and ‘Joose it up,'" Panther said in an e-mail. "The drink pretty much promoted itself."

According to Panther, he was told to slyly promote the high alcohol content, but not advertise the caffeine and taurine found within the drink.

"Promoting (Joose) just made me realize how popular and easy this type of drink is to sell," Panther said. "It's a no-brainer for a broke college student who is trying to get drunk."

Oregon Partnership, a nonprofit that fights substance abuse, has called for a federal ban of Four Loko.

"Four Loko is an energy drink with a knockout punch to it," Tom Parker, the communications director of Oregon Partnership, said. "It is a depressant and stimulant packaged together, which is not a good sign."

According to Parker, Four Loko is often referred to as "blackout in a can."

"(It is also) referred to as liquid cocaine because it gives you a buzzed feeling while being alert, yet relaxed," Parker said.

According to Parker, if a 120-pound person drinks two Four Lokos in one hour, he will have potentially lethal amounts of alcohol in his body.

"It's like flirting with death," Parker said. "This drink is much more powerful than students think it is."

The drink is a recipe for disaster, Parker says, because after drinking a certain amount of non-caffeinated alcohol, the body tends to become tired and does not want to drink more. However, caffeine tricks the body into believing it is alert, which can lead to consuming more alcohol than intended.

Parker says students should reconsider the decision to drink Four Loko.

"Think of a better way to party," Parker said. "This is a potentially lethal drink."

Phusion Projects says it's disappointed that its products are being abused.

"No one is more upset than we are when our products are abused or consumed illegally by underage drinkers," Phusion Projects said in a press release regarding the Central Washington University incident. "It appears that both happened in this instance. This is unacceptable."

According to another press release regarding the Washington State ban, Phusion Projects is extremely disappointed in the decision to ban Four Loko.

"The ban is based on misguided information and does not address the issue at hand," Phusion Projects said. "The CWU incident was disturbing and unacceptable, and points to the need to address an ongoing challenge facing colleges across the nation: the underage use of and abuse of alcohol."

Phusion Projects does not believe the Washington State Liquor Control Board addresses the concerns of underage drinking in its decision to ban Four Loko. Though the company made the decision to remove the caffeine and other stimulants from Four Loko, it still believes the combination is safe.

"We have repeatedly contended — and still believe, as do many people throughout the country — that the combination of alcohol and caffeine is safe," the company said in a press release Tuesday. "If it were unsafe, popular drinks like rum and colas or Irish coffees that have been consumed safely and responsibly for years would face the same scrutiny that our products have recently faced."