If you tuned in to a Colorado state House hearing on Monday about powdered alcohol, you might have left believing it was an ongoing scourge destined to undermine health, commerce and our youth.
The funny thing is, the product hasn’t even hit the market yet. All the objections from law enforcement, restaurateurs and the state health department were — in a word — utterly speculative.
By the time they were done, lawmakers advanced a on powdered alcohol, one intended to allow the state time to devise a regulatory framework. The full legislature still must approve the measure.
Now, no one could object to making sure the product is sold in appropriate venues, regulated properly and taxed fairly, but virtually everyone testifying seemed to hope the legislation can be amended or leveraged to impose a permanent ban on a product based upon imagined abuses. A number of other states have, in fact, already done this.
It’s not fair to the producers or the public, which might find legitimate uses for alcohol in a powdered form, such as backpacking and other pursuits where weight is a limiter.
To be sure, powdered alcohol could be used in troubling ways. It could be used to make super-potent drinks, or smuggled into restaurants or stadiums by people who want to avoid paying marked-up prices for alcoholic beverages.
But let’s be real: Alcohol is abused now by those whose aim is to get drunk. And some people also already BYOB, even if that’s against the rules. We’re also not convinced the product would be any more abused by minors than liquid booze already is.
The broader issue is that there is no telling when the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau will approve the product. There was word last year that the agency had done so, but then retracted the approval, saying it had been issued in error.
Colorado should have a genuine debate over how to regulate powdered alcohol once it clears the federal hurdle, one based on fact and not fear-mongering.
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