The Four Loko Craze
Students all over the United States are being hospitalized for alcohol poisoning, and one particular drink has been named the culprit. Its name? Four Loko.
Nicknamed “Blackout in a Can” and “Liquid Cocaine,” Four Loko has become a nation-wide concern among colleges. Nine students at Central Washington University were so intoxicated from drinking Four Loko that authorities originally thought the students were drugged.
“When you drink Four Loko, you become this alternate person that’s not you,” said Jane Thornton, a student at USC.
Four Loko is a drink that has the equivalent of four to six beers and three energy drinks all in one can.
The Liquor Control approved an emergency ban on the drink in the state of Washington, which went into effect Nov. 18.
“Like everyone thinks it’s fun – ‘cause oh – I had one drink. One drink of liquid death,” said another USC student.
Four Loko is also cheap, selling for only $2.50 a pop. Liquor store employee Sonya Pongsaves says that as bad reviews of Four Loko have increased, more drinks are being sold.
“We had to increasingly add more Four Loko,” said Pongsaves. “The more bad press it got, the better it sold.”
Dr. Ronald Alkana, an expert on alcohol and how it affects the brain, said that Four Loko can be dangerous because it keeps an overly intoxicated person wide awake.
“We sometimes say that alcohol and caffeine make an awake drunk. But it doesn’t make them safer or less intoxicated,” said Alkana.
Four Loko also has a lot more sugar than other sweetened alcoholic drinks like Hard Lemonade.
“It’s got a lot of sugar in it, so people might not realize they’re drinking that much. So it’s potentially going to hit them much harder than they think,” said Alkana.
Phusion Projects, the company that makes Four Loko defended their beverage in a statement, saying that if responsible drinkers consume Four Loko, then the drink is totally safe. But some students, like Reese Milner, disagree.
“I had a buddy who drank a Four Loko and proceeded to strip naked and run through the streets.” Milner added that his friend had “no idea” about his actions that night.
