It goes by several names; Four Loko, a black out in a can or an alcopop, but no matter what students at a New Jersey college call the energy drink alcohol hybrid, they can no longer drink them on campus after the college president banned them.
Ramapo College of New Jersey implemented the ban on Four Loko and all other alcoholic energy drinks after 23 students were hospitalized since the beginning of the semester due after consuming too much alcohol, Ramapo spokesperson Anna Farneski said.
Farneski said they know for sure a handful of students drank Four Loko, and they suspect more of the hospitalized students did as well.
“Obviously we are concerned about our students health and well being,” Farneski said. “The concern is that this drink is designed to intoxicate quickly and students may not be aware of the strength of them.”
Farneski added she believes they are the equivalent of about four beers in one can.
The Four Loko drink, produced by Phusion Projects, has caffeine, Taurine, Guarana and is 12 percent alcohol by volume, according to the company’s website.
Students who are found to have the drink on campus will receive a drinking citation from the college, even if they are over 21, Farneski said.
UW Community Health Specialist Sue Pastor said the drinks are damaging to the body’s health system because they send the body two different signals.
“The problem is the confusion and damage to the body because of speeding up with caffeine and with alcohol being a central nervous system depressant,” Pastor said.
She added the drinks are certainly unhealthy practice, even if they do not lead to death.
Pastor said these kinds of drinks have been on her radar, and said she hopes to put a warning label online when University Health Services redesigns their website.
UW Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning Aaron Brower said UW has not banned any particular drink from campus.
The ban might not just stop at the one college, however.
Farneski said their college president believes this is a problem across the state, and he is working with other presidents to have the drink banned at all colleges in New Jersey.
