No Taste, Not Filling

By Jeremy Caplan

Politicians are no strangers to hot air, which may explain why so many are rushing to condemn a new gadget that enables users to inhale vaporized alcohol. The contraption, known as AWOL (short for Alcohol Without Liquid), looks like an asthma inhaler and reputedly gets booze to the brain faster. Eighteen states have introduced legislation banning the device, and last week Kansas became the second state (after Colorado) to sign its bill into law. "This is the equivalent of putting a funnel at bars, inviting people to get drunker quicker," says Florida state senator Mike Haridopolos, who cosponsored that state's anti-AWOL bill.

Are the devices worth the fuss? Only a few hundred have been sold, according to their U.S. distributor, Kevin Morse. And Haridopolos, like other anti-AWOLers, admits he hasn't seen them used--let alone abused--by his constituents. Nor are their powers all they're cracked up to be. When AWOL is used, ingesting the equivalent of half a shot of liquor takes 20 minutes, according to Morse. "It's nearly impossible to get drunk with it," he says. A bar owner in West Paterson, N.J., even returned the gizmo because it didn't offer enough of a buzz. Mothers Against Drunk Driving president Wendy Hamilton considers vaporized alcohol a low priority compared with getting states like Florida to enact stricter seat-belt laws. "Legislatures," she explains wearily, "get distracted."

--By Jeremy Caplan