Palcohol, Powdered Alcohol, The New Four Loko After Federal Approval?

"Just add water," says Lipsmark, makers of the controversial Palcohol -- a powdered alcohol cocktail in a pouch. The federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approved the novelty concoction Tuesday, but there's still plenty of buzz surrounding Palcohol. Much like Four Loko, many states are concerned about the drink and its possible health risks.

New York, California and Florida are just three of the states looking to ban Palcohol, according to the Washington Post. In August 2014, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration and said he planned to introduce a bill to ban powdered alcohol. "We simply can’t sit back and wait for Palcohol to hit store shelves and possibly be to blame for more alcohol-related hospitalizations and, God forbid, deaths, and that’s why I’m pursuing all possible avenues to stop the sale of this Kool-Aid for underage binge drinking," Schumer is quoted as saying by the Hill. Palcohol was mistakenly approved for sale in 2014, an OK that was later rescinded while Lipsmark updated its packaging information.

Lipsmark has been on the defensive following the news of Palcohol's approval and argues the call to ban powdered alcohol is not one about safety, but politics. "The liquor industry is against it and they want to squash competition and protect their market share. The liquor companies have lots of money to lobby for what they want and we are no match for their deep pockets," Lipsmark said on its website.

Schumer, as well as groups including Mothers Against Drunk Driving, are concerned about a spike in underage drinking, misuse by snorting and increased public intoxication. Palcohol passed a scientific review by the FDA last summer, the Wall Street Journal reported. The FDA said it did not have concerns about Palcohol's ingredients.

The outcry is similar to the one over Four Loko, an alcoholic beverage that had caffeine, taurine and guarana. The FDA declared that Four Loko and other caffeinated alcoholic beverages posed a health concern. “FDA does not find support for the claim that the addition of caffeine to these alcoholic beverages is ‘generally recognized as safe,’ which is the legal standard,” Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, the FDA's principal deputy commissioner at the time, said in a statement. “To the contrary, there is evidence that the combinations of caffeine and alcohol in these products pose a public health concern.” [Sharfstein left the FDA in 2011 and is now an associate dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.]

People looking to enjoy a powdered margarita, cosmopolitan, rum and coke or lemon drop will have to wait until the summer for Palcohol to reach shelves. Its actual availability all depends on how many states choose to ban powdered alcohol.