The Virginia Senate unanimously passed a bill Monday to ban the importation, sale and use of powdered or crystalline alcohol.
Del. Alfonso Lopez, D-Fairfax, who introduced the bill, said the risks associated with powdered alcohol greatly outweigh any of its benefits.
“I think its a pretty common sense safety public measure to ban and address the growing dangers of crystalline and powdered alcohol,” he said. “The fact that it has already been banned in several states and you’re seeing the way it’s being abused in other states, it’s something that needed to be addressed in Virginia.”
The FDA briefly approved powdered alcohol in April 2014 but promptly reversed its status, calling the initial approval an “error.”
“As soon as that happened, that raised red flags,” Lopez said.
Lopez said some of his initial research into powdered alcohol alerted him to potential negative health effects including instances of kids snorting the substance and ending up in the hospital.
“You can create incredibly high concentrations of shots of these powdered alcohol packets and it can be very dangerous,” he said. “[There is a] substantial risk, especially by kids.”
Lopez said while he is not aware of any situations where powdered alcohol had been used on college campuses, he and other lawmakers are trying to be proactive in preventing the potential for abuse of powdered alcohol.
“It could be sprinkled in someone’s drink or food… [or] it could be brought into a school or an environment that bans alcohol,” he said. “It needed to be addressed.”
According to a press release, seven states have already banned powdered alcohol despite pushes from the manufacturer to place the product on the market this spring.
Steven Schmidt, senior vice president for public policy and communications for the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association, said the product is not currently available in the U.S.
“There’s really been no experience with it,” he said. “Where it has been in the market in the course of the world has been very limited.”
The NABCA has published research outlining certain risks of powdered alcohol based on “concerns that had been raised by a bunch of officials around the country,” Schmidt said.
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