Four Loko, a high-alcohol caffeinated drink, was determined to be the culprit, not date-rape drugs, that sickened Central Washington University students at an off-campus party earlier this month.
Students at the party had blood-alcohol levels that ranged from 0.12 percent to 0.35 percent after consuming cans of the drink called Four Loko, CWU President James L. Gaudino said at a news conference Monday. Other students mixed the drink with additional alcohol, he said.
Nine students were hospitalized after the Oct. 8 party at a house in Roslyn, where about 50 people had been drinking.
Four Loko is made by Phusion Projects Inc., of Chicago. It comes in several varieties, including fruit punch and blue raspberry. A message left with the company was not immediately returned.
Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna said his office would lead an effort to ban such caffeinated malt liquors this year after a recent proposal died in the state Legislature.
Wow! Malt liquor drinks have been in the ghettos of the U.S. for decades. Now that some college students are hospitalized for OD-ing on the cheap liquor politicians are trying to make laws to ban it.
