Wasting Away in Powderita-ville? Not in New York State
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Mike Groll / AP Photo
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs the nation’s latest ban on powdered alcohol.
New Yorkers hoping to buy Powderita mix at their local liquor store anytime soon can forget about it.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill on Friday outlawing the sale of powdered and crystalline alcohol in the Empire State. More than 20 other states have already banned the sale of such products. Commonly cited worries are that the powdered booze might be ingested in ways that lead to excessive drunkenness, or easily concealed by minors.
"This dangerous product is a public health disaster waiting to happen,” Cuomo said in a statement on Friday. “I am proud to sign this legislation that will keep powdered alcohol off the shelves and out of the wrong hands.”
But a leading maker of the substance has characterized the concerns over it as inaccurate and overblown. “Palcohol is safer than liquid alcohol,” Mark Phillips, the creator of a powdered alcohol product called Palcohol, said in an emailed statement on Friday. “All the assertions legislators have made about Palcohol are wrong.” He added: “They're just making stuff up.”
Phillips is also the president of Lipsmark LLC, an Arizona-based company that owns the Palcohol brand.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau granted approval to labels for five Palcohol variations earlier this year, including Powderita, which is meant to taste like a margarita when mixed with water. Among the other versions are Cosmopolitan and Lemon Drop.
Approvals issued in 2014 for the product’s labels were rescinded after the agency said they’d been issued by mistake.
But despite the go-ahead from federal regulators, states have been quick to block powdered alcohol sales. As of late June, 22 states had banned the substance, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The group also reported that Maryland and Minnesota had imposed temporary one-year statutory bans, and that at least 89 bills targeting powdered alcohol products had been introduced in 40 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, during the 2015 legislative session.
“Powdered alcohol is a product with no legitimate reason for being,” Republican New York State Sen. Joseph Griffo said on Friday in a statement. Griffo sponsored the Senate version of the legislation Cuomo signed. The the state senator added: “Kids can stash Palcohol in their pocket when they leave the house for a party and their parents would never know the difference.”
In March, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer introduced legislation that would make the production, sale and possession of powdered alcohol illegal at the federal level. The New York Democrat referred to the substance as “Kool-Aid for underage drinking” and voiced concern that it could be “sprinkled onto food, and can even be snorted.” His bill currently has no co-sponsors.
Phillips, the inventor of Palcohol, said in his emailed remarks that lawmakers lacked information to back up their claims. “They have never seen or tried Palcohol,” he said. “They don't know anything about the packaging, pricing or marketing.”
According to a company representative, Palcohol is not currently sold anywhere in the U.S. A note on the website for the product says: “we are looking for distributors in all other countries.”
Bill Lucia is a Reporter for Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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