Majority of US adults give thumbs down to powdered alcohol

A survey conducted by the University of Michigan (UM) researchers shows the unpopularity of powdered alcohol among the adult US citizens with 60 per cent preferring a complete ban on its use while 84 per cent of the adult Americans wanted a ban on its online sales.

The adults seek a ban over concerns it might be misused by underage youth.

According to a report by UM's CS Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health (NPCH), the adults asserted that 'Palcohol' would be easily abused as the kids would find it very easy and convenient to mix it in their beverages without anyone's knowledge.

Thus, 90 per cent of the participants in the survey believed that easy-to-make cocktail by underage youths would lead to its misuse by people under 21 years old.

However, Mark Phillips, Palcohol CEO countered the claims calling them baseless and demonstrated through a video that a package of Palcohol was almost five times bigger than a 50ml bottle of liquid alcohol and it was therefore harder to conceal than most people believed.

The federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau had approved Palcohol sale in US this March (See: US federal regulator approves powdered alcohol) and it was scheduled for launch this summer, in four flavours; Cosmopolitan, Margarita, Vodka and Rum.

A number of state legislators had, however,  decided to prohibit its use within their borders; South Carolina, Vermont and Louisiana had already banned it while Michigan was on the verge of following suit.

Phillips says, prohibition doesn't work. "By banning powdered alcohol, the state will create a black market which means the state loses control of the distribution. And then underage drinkers will have easier access to it."

Also 85 per cent of adults agreed that powdered alcohol marketing should not be allowed on social networking sites that made it easy to reach younger crowds.

Powdered alcohol would be packaged in travel-friendly pouches, and would be offered in flavours of distilled spirits like vodka and rum and also mixed drinks.

"The product's makers tout powdered alcohol as improving convenience for people who enjoy the outdoors and others who want to travel light with alcoholic beverages," says Matthew M Davis, MD, MAPP, director of the National Poll on Children's Health and professor of paediatrics and internal medicine in the Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit at the UM Medical School.

"Given that several states are considering legislation about powdered alcohol, our poll looked at what the public thinks about this new product. The majority of adults agree that powdered alcohol may spell trouble for young people."