That’s not the headline, of course. The headline in the New York Times is, “F.D.A. Says It May Ban Alcoholic Drinks With Caffeine.” When I read it, I thought, “Oh, no. The FDA is about to ban rum and coke.” But have no fear: they’re not going to ban that drink, probably because they can’t stop the after-market. They just want to take away the convenience that comes from the pre-mix.
Isn’t it grand to have the FDA, spurred on by such busybodies as Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, looking out for us?
H/T to freemarketmojo.
READER COMMENTS
Steve Sailer
Nov 14 2009 at 5:56pm
Cuba Libres are known to bar managers as “the fighting drink” because sugar, caffeine, and alcohol make for energetic drunks. Beer is more more nutritious (its carbs burn slower than pure sugar), which makes people less hungry and thus less cranky.
Carter
Nov 14 2009 at 7:43pm
Your situation may be different, but I’m not inconvenienced by a ban on watermelon flavor Four Loko.
Dr. T
Nov 14 2009 at 8:08pm
I’m a clinical pathologist, and toxicology is part of my specialty. I cannot come up with any possible medical reason to ban drinks containing ethanol and caffeine. Caffeine doesn’t amplify any of ethanol’s negative effects. And, caffeine isn’t strong enough to counteract ethanol’s negative effects (except it might help keep you alive if you mix barbiturates with ethanol). Therefore, the FDA must be acting on psychological issues: the belief that a man will drink more if he believes that caffeine will keep him more sober. I don’t know if this belief is true, but it seems too nebulous to use as a justification for banning caffeine and alcohol drinks.
guthrie
Nov 16 2009 at 11:47am
Ah, the nanny state at work! What in the world would we do if we didn’t have the protection of the elites in the Bureaucracy?!
Christopher Renner
Nov 17 2009 at 11:25am
I just have to agree with C.S. Lewis’s statement that “Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”
Comments are closed.