Powdered prohibition: the federal government has approved powdered alcohol, but state lawmakers continue to question whether it's safe and too easily misused.

• Author: Morton, Heather
• Position: ALCOHOL

Lawmakers are not exactly bellying up to the bar to get the first taste of powdered rum or freeze-dried vodka. Instead, in Alaska, Indiana, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Virginia, they have passed laws prohibiting the sale of powdered alcohol. And in Colorado, Delaware, Michigan and New Mexico, legislators have added powdered alcohol to their statutory definitions of alcohol so that the product can be regulated under existing law. Minnesota has a temporary statutory ban until June 2016, and a proposed ban in Arizona was vetoed by the governor in April.

The U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau just this March (after retracting an initial approval in 2014) OK'd Palcohol for sale in the United States, unless otherwise prohibited. When added to 6 ounces of water, one pouch of Palcohol turns into the same amount of alcohol as one shot. Initially, it will come in vodka and rum versions, as well as three cocktail varieties--Cosmopolitan, "Powderita" (think margarita) and Lemon Drop. The makers hope to appeal mostly to backpackers and hikers who want a lightweight, easily portable form of liquor.

State policymakers have raised concerns about the potential misuse of the product, by snorting, inhaling or combining it with other alcoholic beverages. Debate has also centered on how to keep minors from consuming it.

Lipsmark, the Arizona company developing Palcohol, refutes the idea that people will inhale or snort the product because it's painful and time-consuming to do so. "It takes approximately 60 minutes to snort the equivalent of one shot of vodka," according to the company website. "Why would anyone do that when they can do a shot of liquid vodka in two seconds?"

Two states were ahead of the pack on addressing concerns about this new product. During the 1985-86 session, Delaware lawmakers added "powders" to the definition of a concentrated alcoholic beverage, so that powders and crystals could be regulated under the existing alcohol statutes. Ten years later, the Alaska Legislature added restrictions on the kinds of alcoholic beverages a person may not...