A lack of cooperation with legislators has put the makers of sugary, high-alcohol malt beverage Four Loko in the crosshairs of the Senate's Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee chairman.

Sen. Jeffrey Klein is ticked off by Chicago-based Phusion Projects' refusal to participate in an April hearing that dealt with the availability of its Four Loko product, a high-alcohol, flavored malt beverage. Klein served Phusion with a legislative subpoena that directs the company to produce a litany of documents relating to production methods and marketing strategies.

"This company makes a product for sale in New York that's cheap, tastes sweet and packs a six-pack punch in a 22-ounce can," said Klein, D-Bronx. "We believe their information can greatly inform our efforts to keep Four Loko and similar 'alcopops' out of the hands of minors. Given Phusion's lack of cooperation, this committee has no choice but to use the tools at its disposal to obtain the facts we need."

The company recently pulled the caffeinated version of the drink off the shelves in New York under a voluntary agreement with the state and now sells a noncaffeinated version. Klein has introduced a bill (S.4221-a/A.6914) that would restrict the sales of flavored malt beverages to liquor stores, which he argues would keep them at a safer distance from minors.

The bill passed the Senate's Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee May 9 and is now in the Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business Committee. In the Assembly, where it is sponsored by Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, D-Sunset Park, it has been in the Economic Development Committee since April 5.

Klein announced the subpoena at a press conference on June 2, although the company said later that afternoon it had not received any such notice and stressed its products are not designed for minors.

"We go above and beyond state and federal regulations to help prevent underage consumption of our products," the company said in a statement. "This includes our labeling - which contains seven different statements about the product's alcohol content and the necessity of an ID for purchase - and our work with retailers to reinforce the importance of requiring legal ID at the point of sale. In addition, Phusion Projects does not market its products through television, magazines or radio."

"Our records indicate it was received at 10:23 a.m. Chicago time [June 2]," said Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Klein, referring to records kept by United Processing Inc., the service company that served the subpoena.

To view the full story, click on this link: http://www.legislativegazette.com/Articles-c-2011-06-13-78274.113122-Four-Loko-sales-to-minors-drives-Senator-Klein-crazy.html

Source: The Legislative Gazette

A survey of wine drinkers conducted by the University at Buffalo School of Management has found that 54 percent say they are opposed to a New York State proposal to sell wine in supermarkets.

In a survey of more than 5,000 households, 42 percent of those opposing wine sales in supermarkets cited "negative impact on small businesses" as their reason for doing so. Other reasons included reduction of wine selection (19 percent), likely end of personalized services (15 percent), end of a unique shopping experience at specialty stores (11 percent), perceived unfairness of competition (8 percent), potential for abuse/unhealthy buying behavior due to wider availability (7 percent) and loss of jobs in a troubled economy (4 percent).

Of those who support the proposal, 87 percent favored it for shopping convenience. Another 10 percent anticipated a decline in the price of wine, and 5 percent favored it because it promoted greater competition.

"Unlike other studies that have surveyed the general population, all of the participants in this study were actual consumers of wine," says Arun Jain, Samuel P. Capen Professor of Marketing Research in the UB School of Management.

According to the co-authors of the study, Jain, Ram Bezawada and Gary Pickering, survey participants included both men (38 percent) and women (62 percent) representing all age, income and education groups. Jain and Bezawada are co-directors of the school's Research Group in Integrated Marketing (RIM). Pickering is a professor of biological sciences and psychology/wine science at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario.

In general, support for wine sales in grocery stores was greatest among the young, who are more pressed for time and favored convenience. Older households tended to oppose the selling wine in supermarkets.

When asked how the availability of wine in supermarkets would impact how much wine they purchase, 70 percent of participants said they would buy the same amount, while 17 percent anticipated purchasing more wine and 13 percent said they would buy less.

"These findings are important because proponents of this proposal claim that wine sales, and therefore tax revenues, will increase greatly if wine is sold in grocery stores, but the truth is that there will be little change," Jain says.

"In the end, approval of the proposal to sell wine in supermarkets will be detrimental to smaller wine stores because they cannot make the volume purchases of a large supermarket chain," Jain says. "In addition, grocery stores do not have enough shelf space to carry an extensive selection, and their employees are not as knowledgeable about wines, so what the consumer may gain in competitive pricing will be offset by the loss of variety and expertise."

For more about this story, click on this link: http://www.buffalo.edu/news/12656

Source: University at Buffalo School of Management

By Emily Listfield

Linda B.* and her husband were sound asleep when the phone rang at 2 a.m. Their oldest daughter, Rory, 18, had left two weeks earlier for her first year at a college in Connecticut. An honor student and athlete, Rory had never been in trouble. They didn't think they had any reason to worry.  "When I picked up the phone, Rory was crying hysterically; she was completely disoriented," Linda recalls. "She kept saying, 'Mom, can you come get me?' but she had no idea where she was-and we live hours away. I've never been that scared-she could barely speak." Finally, Linda heard other people's voices in the background and had Rory pass the phone to someone who told her where they were. While Linda stayed on the line with her daughter, her husband called campus security. When officials found Rory a few minutes later, her face was covered in blood. She had fallen and broken her nose, though she was so intoxicated that she hadn't realized it. "She managed to tell me she'd been drinking something called Jungle Juice," Linda recalls. 

Like many parents, Linda had never heard of the potentially lethal concoction. A syrupy mix of hard liquors and fruit juices, it often includes Everclear, whose alcohol content can be as high as 190 proof (a level banned in some states). Some kids throw in energy drinks for good measure. There are dozens of recipes for Jungle Juice online; one popular site calls it "Suicide in a Kettle."

 

The Long-Term Damage

"The adolescent brain is much more sensitive to alcohol toxicity than adults', including being vulnerable to cell death," says Dr. Fulton Crews, director of the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. "Adolescents showed much more frontal cortical damage than adults. We found that one high dose of alcohol caused significant loss of brain stem cells."

Early drinking also poses a risk later in life. "If you start drinking early, you're 40% to 60% more likely to become an alcoholic, regardless of family history," Dr. Crews says. And studies indicate a potential for permanent memory impairment.

 

What Parents Can Do

If you're worried that your teen might be binge drinking, consider taking these steps.
 
· Know the warning signs.
Signs of extreme drinking include a drop in grades, changes in behavior and mood, a new set of friends, memory lapses, and difficulty concentrating.

· Open a dialogue.
Ask your kids what kinds of experiences they're having, make your personal values clear, and calmly lay out the risks. Studies have found that parents who combine clear expectations of accountability with support and warmth have more success in curbing binge drinking than either strictly authoritarian or overly indulgent parents.

· Establish a code word.
 Before your kids go out, agree on a phrase they can say if they are in an uncomfortable situation and need to give you a signal to come get them right away, no questions asked.

· If you tell your kids just one thing, make it this:
"If someone has been drinking Jungle Juice or doing shots in a short amount of time, their blood alcohol level can continue to rise dangerously after they appear to fall asleep," Dr. O'Brien says. This could have fatal consequences. "Tell your kids: If you can't rouse someone, call 911.  The worst that can happen is you'll be embarrassed or your parents will get angry. But the alternative is far worse. We all know kids make mistakes. Unfortunately, some mistakes can't be fixed."

*Names have been changed to protect minors and their parents.

For the complete story, click on this link: http://www.parade.com/health/2011/06/12-teen-drinking-epidemic.html

Source: Parade

University of Iowa students reported an 8-percent drop in the binge-drinking rate between spring 2009 and spring 2011-the lowest level in a decade and a notable about-face following years of steady and rising high-risk drinking rates on and near campus-according to findings of the 2011 National College Health Assessment.

Nearly all of the negative consequences of binge drinking decreased and protective factors increased. Between 2009 and 2011, the percentage of students who reported doing something they regretted after drinking decreased 24 percent, and 29 percent fewer students physically injured themselves because of alcohol.

Additionally, more students are drinking in ways that keep their blood-alcohol content below the legal limit when they drink. The survey saw a 22 percent increase in students who stayed beneath the legal limit (.08) the last time they drank.

The data also shows a 24 percent decrease in driving after drinking and a 36 percent drop in the number of students who said they were involved in a physical fight. And 38 percent fewer students reported having sex under the influence of alcohol without giving consent, while 17 percent fewer students reported having sex under the influence of alcohol without getting consent.

Just over 83 percent of students reported using alcohol in the 30 days prior to taking the survey, which is the lowest level in 20 years of data collection.

For more information about this story, go to this link: http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2011/june/062211NCHA-alcohol-summary6-2011.pdf

Source: University of Iowa