Newstrack: Ban on powdered alcohol sales could get second look

BACKGROUND

Citing a variety of health and safety concerns as well as questions about whether it is socially responsible way to sell and consume alcohol, 25 states have enacted bans on the sale of powdered alcohol. Iowa isn't one of them. At least not yet.

Although the Iowa Senate voted 48-2 to ban the sale of powdered alcohol, a similar bill never made it out of the House Commerce Committee.

WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE

CEDAR RAPIDS - 'It's something still in play,” said Rep. Ken Rizer, R-Cedar Rapids, who helped win approval for a ban on powdered alcohol in a Commerce subcommittee.

He thinks it will be revisited when the Legislature convenes in January.

'We'll definitely will support it,” said Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Divisions spokesman Robert Bailey.

The agency thought there was 'widespread support” for the ban, Bailey said, but 'possibly priorities were adjusted” as lawmakers grappled with settling a budget dispute that extended the legislative session for more than a month past lawmakers' scheduled adjournment.

Rizer agreed it 'wasn't a pressing issue because no one has said they want to sell it” and because the Alcoholic Beverages Division, which asked for the legislative ban, decided not to offer the product. Bailey said no one has asked the division to offer powdered alcohol.

Bans on powdered alcohol were triggered by the development of Palcohol Arizona-based Lipsmark. It's a freeze-dried powdered version of vodka, run and various mixed-drink flavors that comes in a four-by-six-inch sealable pouch. When water is added, it has the same alcohol content as a single shot of those traditional version of those liquors, according to Lipsmark.

So far, Palcohol is not available for sale anywhere in the country, according to Lipsmark spokeswoman Lynne Barbour. Arizona, where the governor vetoed a law banning its sale, may be the first market.

Barbour doesn't know anything about priorities being adjusted, but said that the liquor lobby, which 'is actively trying to have Palcohol banned, is very well-funded and organized. We are no match for them.”

Lipsmark hopes to get Palcohol on the market in the states that haven't banned it, Barbour said, adding that an outright ban may not be the best way to address the issue.

'The demand from individuals and businesses in the other states will force the states that have banned it to either continue the ban and allow a black market to thrive, which will make it easier for kids to get a hold of it,” she said, 'or reverse the ban to regulate and tax it like they should have done in the first place.”

States that ban powdered alcohol will miss out on the tax revenues from legal sales, she said.

Both the Senate-passed ban - Senate File 123 - and a similar House bill - House File 494 - remain alive for consideration in 2016.

Rizer isn't sure what the House will do with the proposed ban.

'I don't know the temperature of the (majority Republican) caucus or the House,” he said. 'I haven't had a single constituent contact about it so I don't think this is one of the biggest issues on people's minds.”

Some lawmaker, Rizer added, had reservations because powdered alcohol is such a new product and has not been sold anywhere that lawmakers have very little information on which to base a decision.

'There were some misgivings to banning something that is so new,” he said. 'Some people think it might be too early take legislative action.”