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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
| State Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown
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Lowery Brown to introduce legislation banning alcoholic energy drinks
HARRISBURG, Nov. 4 – State Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown, D-Phila, said she will introduce legislation next term that would ban the sale of alcoholic energy drinks that have sickened some throughout the country, particularly college students.
"We are seeing more and more circumstantial evidence that these products, which have earned nicknames such as 'liquid cocaine' and 'blackout in a can,' are dangerous," Lowery Brown said. "Combining alcohol and caffeine leads to people who don't realize how drunk they are, and the outcome could be tragic."
Jerry W. Waters Sr., the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's regulatory affairs director, recently asked retailers to voluntarily halt the sale of alcoholic energy drinks until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration can determine if they are safe.
Lowery Brown noted that Ramapo College in New Jersey banned all caffeinated alcoholic beverages from campus, and nine Central Washington University freshmen were hospitalized after consuming the drinks at an off-campus party.
"These beverages are being sought out as a quick and inexpensive means of becoming intoxicated and our being marketed as such, sadly at the expense of the consumer’s own health and welfare, Lowery Brown said. "They are very popular with young people, and they are being consumed by inner-city working folks as well as college students. It's time to take a proactive approach here in Pennsylvania before there is a tragedy."
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