Should Four Loko Be Banned? Youth Responses to the Caffeinated Alcohol Drink

"I Drink Two Four Lokos a Day" from DE BUG on Vimeo.

If You Drink It, You're About to Get Wild

By Jacob J. (17-years-old)

There’s been a lot of controversy over Four Loko, the energy/alcohol drink that has been banned in some states. It’s not very surprising to me, because remembering the first time my boys and I drank Four Loko, I can see why people think the caffeinated alcohol drink is dangerous. For people who can’t handle their alcohol, it can wreak havoc on the body. Since new drinkers tend to chug, Four Loko can become a problem quick. Here’s my advice: if you don’t know how to just enjoy a beer, don’t drink Four Loko.

I remember the first day I drank Four Loko. One day my boys and I decided to hang out at the skate park and we were all thinking about what we’re going to do that day. One of my boys said, “Let's go to the mall?”

I said, “No, there’s nothing to do there. There’s no girls over there anyways.” Since we were all 17 years old, we didn’t have a lot of options and just kept thinking about it. My boy who had been skating just landed a nose blunt and kick flip and when he landed it, we wanted to celebrate, and all of sudden my boy said, “Let's get drunk!” So we all rolled out to the store, and soon enough, we all had two cans each.

Being underage, we decided to go to a place where cops wouldn’t find us. On top of a parking garage, we finished every can of Four Lokos. After that, we were hyped and ready to hit downtown at 2am. There are certain things for certain times. Some people drink wine in subtle places, some people drink beer to chill, and times when people drink Four Lokos, you are about to get wild.

The drink makes you feel hyper. When I was drinking one I wanted to go out and do stuff downtown, so I was jumping over the place. And although you might be jumping all over the place, you’re still drunk.

The drink isn’t called Four Lokos for nothing. The four main ingredients are alcohol, caffeine, taurine and guarana. Basically a caffeinated malt liquor that’s mixed with different carbonated flavors that tastes like you are drinking juice. Imagine the drink being like four cans of beer and 12 cups of coffee. “Loko” is probably supposed to be like the Spanish word for crazy, “loco”. And its only $2.50 a can at most places.

There's certain moods that people get into when they drink it. I find that it just depends on what kind of mood you are in before you drink. If you’re sad and you drink, you might cry. If you’re angry and you drink, you might fight. But if you’re happy, you just want to have fun. I think the last time I saw a bad reaction was when I saw two girls take four sips and they automatically got super drunk that they couldn’t even stand.

They come in all types of flavors. There is grape, fruit punch, orange blend, watermelon, blue raspberry, lemon lime, lemonade, and cranberry lemonade.

Since kids like drinking it, the people drinking it tend to be people who don’t know what they are getting into. So if the company doesn’t change its ingredients, youth will continue to chug, and we will continue to see kids in hospitals. There’s been so much controversy around this drink that the FDA is about to ban it and as for me, I personally don’t care if they do 'cause I like beer better anyway.

Not the Company’s Fault These Youth Are Going “Loko”

By Alex Gutierrez (23-years-old)

As I take a huge swig of my Four Loko fruit punch while sitting on a tipped over shopping cart in the dark of an alley behind a Korean restaurant, I think to myself, "I'm about to have a wild night."

Four Loko is the alcoholic beverage the size of an average tall can of beer that gets straight to the point of messing you up. Lately, it has been the source of controversy since there has been a rash of alcohol poisoning from over consumption, especially among underage college students. It is being banned in Washington, Michigan, Utah, and Oklahoma and now Massachusetts. In California, the company that makes it, Phusion Projects, is being mandated to remove the caffeine, taurine, and guarana from the alcoholic beverage. But I think the company is being unfairly targeted; it’s not their fault youth have access to it and are drinking it irresponsibility.

My experience with the drink makes me think about youngsters who don't know how to put down the bottle (or can) just because their friends are doing it, or even trying to make a competition out of it. Instead of the companies having to do any changes to their product, maybe the consumers, whether they be young or old, should learn to how to control their drinking.

The last time I drank a can of Four Loko, I remember placing the can on the ground and standing up to being lightheaded and feeling like a spaceman wandering to the front of the shopping complex feeling FADED, but yet at the same filled with enough energy to run a marathon.

But I realized it was not a force to be reckoned with, especially since it has 12% alcohol. It was something my friends and I only drank when we were having an especially bad day, and needed a little something to help forget the moment.

Most youth ages 21 and under for that matter prefer the taste of a Four Loko because of its fruity taste that doesn't provide an ambush on the taste buds. The kids in college who wanna be down ass party animals should know what they are getting into. They are not only victims here. We all know responsible drinking comes from experience, but these youth should at least read the labels and and figure out how to put 2 and 2 together. I mean, they are in college.

Related Info:

• FDA warning on caffeinated alcoholic beverage with "unsafe food additives"