I am a pro-free market libertarian. I feel that a mostly unregulated and government supported business model is the right way for capitalism to grow and succeed. But in the current profit at all costs view of the right, and the generally anti-business model of the left, we have an interesting example of product creation run amuck. I could have easily titled this post "Just Because You CAN Create A Product, Doesn't Mean You SHOULD."
For those of you unfamilliar with the product called Four Loko, it is a drink manufactured primarily by a company called Phusion Projects, and is a fruit flavored, malt liquor based product with plenty of caffiene shoveled into it. The effect of drinking one 23.5 ounce can is roughly the same as consuming 3-5 beers, with a major kick from the caffeiene acting as a stimulant on top of it. And the results? Ahoy, Wikipedia!
The drink has come under major fire as colleges and universities across the nation have begun to see injuries and blackouts due to the drink's use. The University of Rhode Island banned this product from their campus on November 5, 2010. The state of Washington banned Four Loko after nine university students aged 17 to 19 from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington became ill at a house party in Roslyn, Washington. The university students were hospitalized and one university student, with a blood alcohol level of .30, almost died.
Obivously, the problem here is the combination of alcohol and caffeine, which tends to delay the affects of the alcohol, leading to overconsumption of both substances, and a sort of doubly dangerous high occuring. In the wake of the incidents reported above, many states have banned the product outright, and the company has now agreed to reformulate the product by removing the caffeine altogether. And it wasn't long before the nanny state decriers, those who have the odd idea that when the department of health and safety regulates products, they are actually destroying our freedoms, came out to bawl:
Once again, fear, overreaction, and the Nanny State have crushed liberty and common sense. Four Loko, a caffeinated, alcoholic beverage, will no longer be distributed in New York State. This follows previous Four Loko bannings in Washington, Michigan, Utah, and Oklahoma. (from blogger Elie Mystal at http://www.abovethelaw.com/)
Her argument is that by banning or altering the drink, you make it popular, telling college kids it's the pandora's box of fun that you can grab and go with at any 7-11. And she may be right about that. But when a product can have the effects described below, we have to wonder: did this need to be on the market in the first place:
And here's the event horizon where common sense and the free market clash. It's an odd position that those on the right seem to take, one that argues that any restrcition or regulation on consumables, sensible or otherwise, is the sign of an omnipresent "nanny state," and is inevitably a slippery slope into deeper government control in our lives. Odd that most of the things they seem to want the least regulation on, tend to be the most dangerous products available health-wise, i.e. very high fat foods, tobacco and alcohol. In other words, while often opposing the legalization of marijuana, a drug poven to have relatively low danger to it's use, they decry attempts to regulate the consumption of more dangerous drugs/foods.
Now, I believe a person should be able to eat, drink or smoke whatever they like within the structure of the law. But Four Loko is a tricky test for my free market attitude, for this reason only: it has been proven to be a dangerous item that seems to be marketed directly to the people who would be most likely to abuse it: college students. So we free market fans must ask ourselves: where does the jubilous celebration of runaway capitalism end, and the responsibility of companies and goevernment begin? The question we might be asking should be directed not at the state, but at the company that produces it and the people who have chosen to abuse it, sometimes with disastrous consequences. Should Phusion have created a product that contains two potentially dangerous drugs, two made more deadly by the presence of the other, and why did those who overindulged in it do so? As deaths and injuries began to pile up, they should have voluntarily altered or recalled the product before states started banning it outright. But they didn't. In fact, they struck back in this manner:
Phusion Projects, the manufacturer of Four Loko has struck back against the negative press, arguing that their drink is no more dangerous than a drink like Red Bull and vodka. "While we don't agree with the notion that mixing caffeine and alcohol is inherently unsafe, we do agree with the goal of keeping adults of legal age who choose to drink responsibly as safe and as informed as possible," the company wrote in an open letter to regulators on it's website. (N.Y. Times)
Just for a little persepctive on this, Anheuser Busch and MillerCoors, who manufactured similar drinks agreed to reformulate their products in 2008, without any government pressure. They seemed to reconsider the effects of marketing and selling a potentially dangerous product, and did the right thing.
As for the individuals who have sickened themselves, damaged property and even died as a result of abusing this product, I can say nothing. I don't know them, or their motivations. But to look at their fate, and defend the product, or the manufacturer, or attack a government that felt there was a serious problem here, has the ring of blaming the victim. But hey, the facts are the facts. We have the freedom to decide this one for ourselves, so maybe we ought to align our moral compasses for a moment, and do just that.
And by the way, friends who have tried Four Loko tell me it tastes like crap.
-Mike Grefski
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