By now it’s already been widely reported that the state of Michigan has banned 55 products containing significant amounts of both alcohol and caffeine, including an alcoholic energy drink called “Four Loko.” While Phusion Products, which makes the drink, has earned considerable controversy on college campuses for specifically marketing its product to students, Michigan and Oklahoma are the first states to ban it outright.
How was Four Loko banned in Michigan? Did the state House of Representatives pass a bill that was approved by the state Senate and signed into law by lame duck Gov. Jennifer Granholm? Nope. From the Detroit Free Press:
The Michigan Liquor Control Commission on Thursday banned the drink Four Loko and dozens of similar alcoholic drinks from being sold in the state. …Phusion Projects, the maker of Four Loko, issued a statement Thursday disagreeing with the Michigan ban.
“The commission did not provide advance notice of its proposed action, voted on the ban with only three of the five commissioners in attendance, and did not give parties who will be affected by the ban any opportunity to be heard,” the company said.”
While liberty-minded individuals should probably be furious with a nanny-state ban like this regardless of how it came about, the Liquor Control Commission’s actions seem particularly disturbing. Should an agency of a state government have regulatory powers so broad that it can ban products independent of any action by the legislature? Read all about the history and mission of the LCC here, from its Prohibtion Era inception the present.
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