Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Thursday, March 28, 2024

State legislators are considering a new bill that would ban the sale of powdered alcohol in Florida.

The House bill (HB 1247) has one more committee to pass and its Senate counterpart (SB 998) has passed all of its committees, earning unanimous approval in each. A recent amendment to the House bill would make the ban applicable for only a year before having to be reapproved by the Legislature.

Sen. Gwen Margolis, the Senate bill sponsor, said she sponsored the bill to avoid the negative consequences that could come from using powdered alcohol, or Palcohol.

Alaska, Louisiana, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont and Virginia have already banned powdered alcohol.

“People all over the country see this as a dangerous new high,” Margolis said. “We hear in other states people were sniffing this stuff.”

Rep. Gregory Steube voted against banning Palcohol in the Appropriations Committee.

“It’s a legal substance,” he said. “It’s a legal product.”

Steube said he voted against banning it because no one could answer questions about safety issues related to the product.

“We have no evidence of what safety issues this substance may cause,” Steube said.

He also said the bill makes it a crime to purchase powdered alcohol but not to possess it.

“It’s just bad policy,” he added.

The Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association supports a ban on powdered alcohol, said Mark Fontaine, executive director.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox

Fontaine said he is concerned about its accessibility to minors and the potential for people to bring it to sporting events. In 2012, 41.5 percent of high school seniors reported using alcohol in the past 30 days, according to the 2013 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey.

“We have a significant alcohol problem with young people in this state,” Fontaine said. “Something like powdered alcohol will make it more readily available, and we need to not be doing that in Florida.”

Some UF students are divided on whether powdered alcohol should be banned.

“I think that I can understand why they might want to ban it,” said Christina Wilson, a 22-year-old environmental engineering senior.

Wilson said powdered alcohol would probably be easier for students to bring into sporting events and may make it easier for underage students to drink. But she said that if legal, it would be something she would try.

“I’d probably buy it,” Wilson said.

Harrison Paparatto, an 18-year-old physics freshman, said he doesn’t think powdered alcohol should be banned because he doesn’t see how it’s different than liquid alcohol. Paparatto also said he doesn’t think a ban on powdered alcohol will prevent underage drinking.

“There are enough people who are overage who can buy alcohol that underage people could know,” he said.

Palcohol is not yet on the market. The earliest it will be available is summer 2015, according to the Palcohol website.

[A version of this story ran on page 1 - 4 on 4/10/2015]

Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.