# Should Everclear be banned? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 10, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830 "2011-09-10T15:54:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/81 "2011-09-13T00:21:46Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > My homeowner’s insurance won’t go up or down if everclear is banned. It does not affect me economically if some idiot (legal adult or no) dies in his own swimming pool after being stupid. > > That’s not true for seat belts and other safety features in automobiles. My auto insurance would skyrocket if more people died on the roadways, even if no other people become involved. Corpses are simply more expensive to deal with than survivors. Seatbelts save me money. Ditto airbags. Would mandating helmets save me any money? Maybe. Maybe not. I haven’t seen any economic analysis that says they do. Hence, no need to mandate their use. > > There’s certainly a fine line between protecting us from ourselves and protecting some of us from 2nd party idiots, but the line exists. I know you want to build a story about the evils of government interference, but you’re trying to do that by denying there’s a difference at all. People are killing themselves with twinkies and frozen pizzas. do you really want your freedoms based on the concept of “for the greater good”? Using this as a basis for law there is nothing stopping the government from mandating the use of rubber donuts in the shower so you don’t break a hip from slipping. It would be no different than seat belts. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/82 "2011-09-13T01:48:42Z")
You have to look at each regulation independently. A blanket approach in either direction does not work. Rubber donuts are not the same as seat belts. Seat belts are not the same as stop signs. You have to look at each regulation on its own merits. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/83 "2011-09-13T01:53:58Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Corpses are simply more expensive to deal with than survivors. Not necessarily. A funeral costs, what, $10K for a decent one? That much barely gets you in the hospital door if you’re not dead. A survivor who is hospital-bound for life, or even permanently disabled, costs the rest of us millions. > [@](#): > > Seatbelts save me money. Ditto airbags. Would mandating helmets save me any money? Maybe. Maybe not. I haven’t seen any economic analysis that says they do. Hence, no need to mandate their use. _Your_ seatbelts save _me_ money. Again, it isn’t about protecting you from your stupidity, it’s about protecting _the rest of us_ from it. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/84 "2011-09-13T06:49:21Z")
Banning Everclear seems so extreme when there are other less drastic options available. 1. Ban yards and you will eliminate all back yard pools. 2. Ban holes in the ground and you will eliminate most buildings that can house pools. 3. Ban water. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/85 "2011-09-13T13:54:30Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > People are killing themselves with twinkies and frozen pizzas. do you really want your freedoms based on the concept of “for the greater good”? A person who doesn’t wear their seat belt costs ME money in increased tax burden and insurance. A person who kills themselves with frozen pizza doesn’t. Besides, there’s a good argument that people who kill themselves with excessive food consumption die sooner, leading to fewer (not more) medical expenses to be spread among the insurance and tax paying public. Most medical care costs come in the last year of life. It’s NOT for the “Greater Good ™”. It’s for MY good. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Not necessarily. A funeral costs, what, $10K for a decent one? That much barely gets you in the hospital door if you’re not dead. A survivor who is hospital-bound for life, or even permanently disabled, costs the rest of us millions. It’s not just the health care related costs. It’s also the cost for local government to deal with the mess. If you live, your insurance has to foot at least a portion of the bill and probably most of the insurance cost. With fatalities, there’s much more of a mess for emergency services, along with the almost inevitable need for autopsies and other investigation of the road accident. It ends up reflected in our tax costs. It’s still overall cheaper to ME to have a live, if injured, person, than a dead person. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > _Your_ seatbelts save _me_ money. Again, it isn’t about protecting you from your stupidity, it’s about protecting _the rest of us_ from it. I was actually making this point. Everybody ELSE using seatbelts saves ME money. I guess that didn’t come across so clearly. The same case isn’t true for everclear or helmets. So, I don’t see a need to mandate the use of helmets or ban everclear. ---
**Author:** ![brittekland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/86 "2011-09-13T14:17:52Z")
I don’t think it should be banned however your stomach is not a furnace either - unfortunately it’s a human nature to throw all sorts of odd/caustic/fiery stuff in there to see if they can damage it/survive it. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/87 "2011-09-14T20:32:06Z")
There’s no freaking way anyone (kid or adult) from Wisconsin was unclear about how potent any drink made with Everclear might be. No freaking way. Hell, that’s why they drink the damn stuff! (Disclaimer: I grew up in western Wisconsin. And you have to mix Everclear with something; stuff on its own is _nasty_.) This woman is made of stupid. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2011, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/88 "2011-09-15T04:19:05Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > 1. Ban water. Careful. People are dumb enough to do just [that!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi3erdgVVTw) :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/89 "2011-09-15T05:37:38Z")
Well. Of course. Water kills thousands of people every year! Way more than Everclear. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/90 "2011-09-19T02:34:52Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > …Everclear, Red Bull and Gatorade? Christ, I want to puke just reading that. [Why, that’s the Tucker Max Death mix, of course.](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tucker%20max%20death%20mix) ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/91 "2011-09-20T03:41:53Z")
Nah. I got to interview Alexakis one time and he seemed like a decent guy. We talked poltics and religion after the interview until his tour manager got pissed at us. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2013, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/92 "2013-02-17T07:04:16Z")
I hate to dig up a [Zombie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQWb-5nblx4), but I forgot to post a follow up last spring. The bill to ban Everclear in Wisconsin died quite quickly in committee. And Luanne Wielichowski’s idiot son is still dead. Stubborn cuss, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/93 "2013-02-17T14:36:04Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > And Luanne Wielichowski’s idiot son is still dead. Stubborn cuss, huh? Dig him up and pour some Everclear into his rotting mouth. Maybe it’ll revive him! ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/94 "2013-02-18T01:45:09Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Everclear is very useful, even if you don’t much iike booze. Say you want to extract the active ingredient of some herbal type remedy. Everclear being almost pure alcohol is very useful, not having so much water. > > Ginseng, for instance. Grind up some good solid Korean Red, soak it in Everclear for a long, long time. Pour in just a touch of distilled water, to keep it liquid, warm slightly to evaporate the remaining alcohol. Patience. Takes a while, but ginseng, like a lot of them, doesn’t disolve well in water, so you have to keep careful track of the water/alcohol ratio. > > Have a shot if the weather forecast is favorable for sexytimes. I don’t know if Viagra works or not, but I’m planning on never finding out. You want game, beer and sammich, earn it! I am stunned at how non-debatable this issue is particularly with you Elucidator? How could you not want to outlaw a substance that has such marginal utility (ginseng, really?) and it’s banning could save so many lives? Oh wait, I get it, if you all enjoy and use a dangerous substance then it’s OK, if used responsibly. Funny, it seems like there some parallel conclusions that could be drawn. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/95 "2013-02-18T03:01:19Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > I don’t recall the taste being vile. (It’s been 25 years since I had any.) > > It shouldn’t taste much different than vodka or any other neutral spirit. Just a stronger alcohol taste. No flavor at all. I know I’m responding to a revived zombie, but I would say this is mostly correct, but it really is nasty to drink like a shot. It is, basically, like undiluted vodka and kind of takes your breath away when you shoot it and feels like fire all the way down. Let’s just say I’m no stranger to drink and hard alcohol, and Everclear (the 190 proof one or whatever the highest proof is) is incredibly harsh. Even the 151 is pretty rough going down. That said, it is useful in making homemade bitters and things like that. My family is Polish, so they buy what’s called Spiritus, which is the Polish version of grain alcohol. 192 proof is not allowed to be sold in Chicago, just 151 proof, so you have to go to the suburbs to get the strong stuff. We use it pretty much only to make our own flavored liquors/cordials. They later get diluted down to about 40% abv, but the flavor extraction is different when you start with grain alcohol vs starting with vodka. The Italians around here do the same thing with lemons for limoncello (although some may use vodka–taste is a bit different.) Anyhow, I like having access to grain alcohol for culinary reasons and for making my own bitters and flavored liqueurs. I really don’t think a ban would solve anything–you can get the same effect as Everclear by using twice as much vodka in your punch and reducing your mixer proportionally. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/96 "2013-02-18T03:24:30Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Dig him up and pour some Everclear into his rotting mouth. Maybe it’ll revive him! He obviously didn’t drink enough if he’s rotting. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/97 "2013-02-18T04:03:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Anyhow, I like having access to grain alcohol for culinary reasons and for making my own bitters and flavored liqueurs. I really don’t think a ban would solve anything–you can get the same effect as Everclear by using twice as much vodka in your punch and reducing your mixer proportionally. Shouldn’t we outlaw vodka too? There are 75,000 alcohol related deaths every year in the USA alone! [http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6089353/ns/health-addictions/t/alcohol-linked-us-deaths-year/#.USGnVVo6WnY](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6089353/ns/health-addictions/t/alcohol-linked-us-deaths-year/#.USGnVVo6WnY) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/98 "2013-02-18T04:13:49Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > 30 would work better. Didn’t the Aztecs have a drinking age of 70? There’s a silver lining to all this. It doesn’t appear Jeff had the chance to pass on his genes before he died. His herioc sacrifice may make future generations slightly less stupid. We should be celebrated young men like Jeff. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/99 "2013-02-18T04:15:17Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > Shouldn’t we outlaw vodka too? There are 75,000 alcohol related deaths every year in the USA alone! > > [http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6089353/ns/health-addictions/t/alcohol-linked-us-deaths-year/#.USGnVVo6WnY](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6089353/ns/health-addictions/t/alcohol-linked-us-deaths-year/#.USGnVVo6WnY) It’s been tried. [You might have heard of it.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition#United_States) ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830/100 "2013-02-18T04:49:54Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > It’s been tried. [You might have heard of it.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition#United_States) That was almost 100 years ago and we have learned so much since then! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-everclear-be-banned/595830.md?page=6)