Washington state bans alcoholic energy drinks - Yahoo! News

Washington state bans alcoholic energy drinks - Yahoo! News: "OLYMPIA, Wash. – Retailers have a week to clear millions of dollars worth of alcoholic energy drinks from their shelves after state regulators banned them Wednesday, citing the hospitalization of nine dangerously drunk college students last month.
The emergency ban, similar to those in Michigan, Utah and Oklahoma, takes effect Nov. 18. Washington's rule targets beer-based drinks that also feature caffeine, such as the malt-liquor energy drink Four Loko.
Some universities also have banned boozy energy drinks from campus while the federal Food and Drug Administration reviews their safety, and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called Wednesday for a ban in his state.
Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, who requested Washington's ban, said a strong caffeine-and-alcohol combination could encourage drinking too much by masking alcohol's regular depressant effects. She also said alcohol-based energy drinks — sometimes fruit-flavored, often sold in brightly colored cans — are too appealing to young drinkers.
'It's no different than the kind of appeal that Joe Camel had to our kids when it came to cigarettes,' she said Wednesday.
Alcoholic energy drinks drew national attention after an October party in Roslyn, a picturesque mountain town known as the place where part of the 1990s television series 'Northern Exposure' was filmed."