Month: October 2004

I do not want to encourage binge drinking, let alone the dangers of drunken driving. Nor do I have particular sympathy for those who are so eager to get blotto that they bypass actually drinking booze and go for snorting alcohol vapors.

But, frankly, the freak-out occuring over the prospect of these Demonic Machines showing up at Denver-area bars is not worth the effort. And moves to try to make the devices illegal seem to be misplaced.

A controversial new alcohol vapor machine could arrive in Colorado bars and clubs before politicians and law enforcement officials sort out who has authority to outlaw the “alcohol without liquid,” or AWOL, device.

AWOL’s manufacturer touts it as a low-carb, low-calorie way to indulge without hard liquor’s usual nasty side effects, like vomiting or hangovers. Critics say the device can deceive police Breathalyzers.

And doctors say AWOL, which turns a shot of liquor into an inhaled mist, is dangerous because alcohol bypasses the liver, the body’s toxin filter. Inhaling vaporized liquor, like breathing in medicine, also makes a tiny amount go a very long way, said experts at National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver.

Is it somewhat more difficult for police to catch drunken drivers (because there’s no “booze on the breath,” and possibly because Breathlyzers aren’t as effective when folks get alcohol via the lungs)? Maybe. Doesn’t justify making it illegal, esp. given the availability of field sobriety tests and urinalysis once someone’s taken down to the station. Law enforcement managed to identify and jail drunken drivers before Breathlyzers came along, and someone will find a way to do so after the AWOL machines become available.

Will some people abuse these things? Almost certainly — but almost certainly the same people who’d binge drink anyway, so outlawing the machines is hardly going to solve that public health problem.

No, it’s just that Prohibitionist impulse coming to the fore again. If alcohol as a drug were to suddenly be invented, you can be sure that some people would do their darnedest to make it illegal. That a new delivery system is now available gives them an opportunity to exercise that impulse. And that’s hardly what we need our legislatures spending time legislating about.