# Is banning Hi-Alcohol Drinks Constitutional? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 6, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741 "2010-11-06T23:40:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741/41 "2010-11-17T16:15:56Z")
Well, it looks like the whining f\*\*\*\*ts will get their [way](http://online.wsj.com/article/AP6a16f9e21a594bfe9352538ab4013fff.html) Thank gwad the pussies of the world run everything and can protect us from ourselves from evil vices like caffeinated beer and flavored cigarettes.:rolleyes: This ban will solve nothing! It’s not as if someone can’t just pop a couple of No Doze while drinking malt liquor. **DUH!** :smack: ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741/42 "2010-11-17T16:38:49Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:39, topic:559741”] And just to check the math, a rum & coke (assuming a 1-1/2 oz shot) would contain 0.6 oz of alcohol (assuming 80 proof rum: it’s ~1.13 oz for 151 rum). If Four Loko is 12% alcohol by volume, and it’s served in 23.5 ounce cans, as asserted by **MsRobyn** earlier in the thread, that’s 2.82 oz of alcohol. So you were actually pretty conservative there. One of these drinks has the alcohol of to 2.5 to 4.7 rum & cokes. [/QUOTE] I would opine that just about any similar mixed drink short of one of those little freebies in Vegas has way more alcohol than that. We used to make 32 oz rum and cokes with probably 5-6 ounces of rum in them for home party purposes. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741/43 "2010-11-17T17:03:59Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:34, topic:559741”] Forget comparing these drinks to oddball combos (Gin & Mountain Dew? Really?) [/QUOTE] > [@pkbites](#): > > AS far as Mt. Dew and gin, odd as it is it’s no more odd than putting freaking Jagermeister in Red Bull. Mountain Dew was allegedly intended to be a whiskey mixer, although I can’t find any authoritative cite. Sounds kinda tasty, honestly. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741/44 "2010-11-17T17:10:12Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Mountain Dew was allegedly intended to be a whiskey mixer, although I can’t find any authoritative cite. Sounds kinda tasty, honestly. [Here](http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/332007/fun_facts_about_mountain_dew.html) you go. Before I met my wife I had dated a girl that liked root beer and brandy. I like root beer and I like brandy. But I didn’t care for the two together. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741/45 "2010-11-17T17:27:03Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > [Here](http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/332007/fun_facts_about_mountain_dew.html) you go. Yeah, I found that, but I’m not sure I’d call it authoritative. Good enough, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741/46 "2010-11-17T17:41:21Z")
This is pointless. Banning the drinks simply creates a poor precedent. Now, a ban on marketing to teens, that I can get behind. ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741/47 "2010-11-17T18:21:59Z")
It’s not just the alcohol or the caffeine, or the size of the can, or the marketing, it’s the four of them combined. For whatever reason there’s a lot of built up hype about 4 Loko and it’s wildly popular. I see lots of people drinking it who normally don’t binge on vodka Red Bulls because drinking 4 Loko is the thing to do these days. I’m not going to give an opinion on whether or not it should be banned, but it should be considered as a separate category from traditional mixed drinks. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741/48 "2010-11-17T18:59:19Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > This is pointless. Banning the drinks simply creates a poor precedent. When they banned flavored cigarettes the argument was “kids may want to try these because of the fruit flavors”. Kids can’t legally smoke, so are we going to ban everything adult so kids can’t do it? All liquor, all guns, driving, screwing, etc.? Once again the liberty of everyone is curtailed using the actions of the few (and the stupid) as an excuse to do so. This country is really getting stupid. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741/49 "2010-11-17T19:00:49Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > This is pointless. Banning the drinks simply creates a poor precedent. > > Now, a ban on marketing to teens, that I can get behind. How do you tell the difference between marketing to teens vs marketing to people in their 20s? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741/50 "2010-11-17T19:45:31Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > When they banned flavored cigarettes the argument was “kids may want to try these because of the fruit flavors”. Kids can’t legally smoke, so are we going to ban everything adult so kids can’t do it? All liquor, all guns, driving, screwing, etc.? > > Once again the liberty of everyone is curtailed using the actions of the few (and the stupid) as an excuse to do so. This country is really getting stupid. Um… you do know I was agreeing with you, right? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741/51 "2010-11-17T19:49:38Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Um… you do know I was agreeing with you, right? Yes. I was just showing an example of how pointless (as you said) these bans are and how ridiculous their reasoning is. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741/52 "2010-11-18T16:51:31Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > I would opine that just about any similar mixed drink short of one of those little freebies in Vegas has way more alcohol than that. We used to make 32 oz rum and cokes with probably 5-6 ounces of rum in them for home party purposes. Opine away 😉 Everyone mixes their drinks differently at home. I was just using the typical bar formula (1-1/2 oz shots) as some kind of standard. Actually, I was looking through a commercial barware catalog the other day, and it had shot glasses and pour spouts at everything from 1-1/2 ounce measures down to 7/8 ounce. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-banning-hi-alcohol-drinks-constitutional/559741.md?page=2)