NORWICH – The Chenango County Youth Bureau and STOP-DWI program are weighing in on a piece of legislation that prohibits the sale of powdered or crystaline alcohol in the State of New York.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the proposal into law this month making it illegal for retailers to peddle the substance known as “Palcohol,” a freeze-dried alcohol sold in small bags and intended to be mixed with water to create alcoholic drinks.
According to the governor, the substance is a “ public health disaster waiting to happen.”
“I am proud to sign this legislation that will keep powdered alcohol off the shelves and out of the wrong hands,” Cuomo said in a media release last week.
Signing the measure puts New York in the ranks of 20 other states that have banned Palcohol, but it’s the legislature’s proactive approach that deserves applause, said Kathy Clemens, dual Director of the Chenango County Youth Bureau and the county’s STOP-DWI program.
“The governor made the right choice,” Clemens said. “Powdered alcohol is still relatively new, therefore the safety factor wasn’t as good as it could be; and that made it too easily transportable at any kind of event.”
Clemens said putting a stop to the substance before it hit a major trend phase among teens was a critical move in maintaining public health and safety.
“The trend phase is when kids experiment how to use it. I would hate to hear stories about this stuff being snorted,” she added. “The tendency with any kind of drug is finding ways to get a bigger high from that drug. Prohibiting powdered alcohol in New York State is going to lengthen the time before this drug is experimented with.”
Legislation to ban Palcohol follows a sprited push from New York State STOP-DWI. The agency submitted a letter to the counsel to the governor earlier this month calling for passage of the proposal. Advocates argued that while the primary intent of powdered alcohol may be to make alcohol more portable, it also makes alcohol easier to conceal, thus opening the door for an increase in underage consumption at crowded venues where alcohol isn’t sold.
The letter states: “Our research indicates that the available forms of non-liquid alcohol are rather cumbersome and not particularly effective in creating the desired effect; but as we have learned from the chemistry that has given us synthetic marijuana and ‘bath salts,’ the so-called ‘chemists’ will always be at work trying to stay ahead of enforcement, and making dangerous products available to willing consumers.”
Nevertheless, the official Palcohol website (palcohol.com) says that states are being hasty, claiming it’s not fair to deny responsible adults and businesses the chance to use its product which has been approved for sale by the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TBB).
The company says powdered alcohol has useful applications in medicine, energy, hospitality, the military, and manufacturing, as well as recreation.
What’s more, Palcohol says legislation against its product limits free choice and unfairly targets powdered alcohol without equal consideration of the dangers of liquid alcohol. Palcohol also argues that banning their product will actually make it easier for kids to get it.
According to the website, “A ban heightens demand for the product (we want what we can’t have) and the government has no control over distribution.”