Powdered Alcohol - What you should know

Powdered Alcohol - What You Should Know

Powdered alcohol is freeze-dried vodka, rum, or other drinks that are generally contained in small packets that can be sold in liquor or grocery stores.. Because alcohol can be absorbed in a sugar derivate, it can be delivered as a powder and/or packed into capsules. The powder is added to water in order to be mixed into an alcoholic drink. In March 2015 The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) gave its approval to a powdered alcohol product called Palcohol. Soon after, severalstates responded by enacting bans on the powdered form of alcohol, saying that it was too hard to regulate. The bans have been endorsed by Vermont, South Carolina, Alaska, Delaware, Louisiana, Utah Connecticut, and Virginia. 

The concerns about Palcohol centered on abuse by minors, specifically the potential to snort the powder; spike drinks or how easy it would be to bring alcohol into public events.. Snorting Palcohol would be difficult because of the amount you would need to ingest to equal one shot of alcohol. The powdered drink does not have a significant concentration of alcohol.When alcohol is added it to the highly absorbent powder it effectively increased its surface area making it inefficient for inhalation. If we assume a typical line for a snortable drug is about 1/10th of a gram and powdered alcohol will come in 29g packets, then it would take 290 standard-sized lines to equal one single drink of alcohol. Also remember since it is alcohol based it is also going to burn the nasal passageways. Powdered alcohol also starts losing its potency very rapidly because high-proof alcohol evaporates very quickly. The lack of alcohol concentration would also make it inefficient to sprinkle in foods. 

Using it to spike someone’s drink does not seem to be a viable threat either. It takes a minute of constant stirring for the powder to dissolve in a drink. So it wouldn't be easy to spike someone's drink without them knowing. 

Many parents and professionals worry that the small packets are so easy to conceal, that it could lead to more underage drinking. It could be easily hidden and consumed in places where people are not allowed to have alcohol.

Palcohol is due to be released sometime this summer. We will keep up with its impact and do a follow up after it has been on the marker for a while.