Mo. Senate votes to ban alcohol vaporizers

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri senators voted Thursday to outlaw a machine that lets people breath in their booze.

Alcohol vaporizers made their American debut four years ago in New York, and quickly attracted the attention of concerned lawmakers nationwide. The machine allows liquor vapors to go straight to the lungs and into the bloodstream, instead of passing through the stomach and liver.

Sellers promote it as a way to get a buzz without the calories, carbohydrates or much of a hangover. But some lawmakers fear its effect.

"That's just death waiting to happen if we don't ban these," said Sen. Luann Ridgeway, R-Smithville, whose bill prohibiting the devices received initial Senate approval by voice vote.

Ridgeway said she hasn't heard of any problems in Missouri as a result of the machines and described her legislation as a preventive measure that would allow law officers to confiscate them.

The alcohol without liquid, or AWOL, machine pumps pressurized oxygen through a hose over a small amount of liquor in a hand-held canister as the user breathes in the vapor.

It is sold by Greensboro, N.C.-based Spirit Partners Inc. over the Internet at a cost of about $300 for an individual model or about $2,900 for a commercial quality machine that can be used by multiple people at the same time.

Company president Kevin Morse did not immediately return a telephone call Thursday. But he has said previously that other states' efforts to ban the machine have drawn attention to the device and increased sales.

Ridgeway's legislation also includes several other alcohol-related provisions.

It would place into state law a specific civil liability for people found guilty of providing alcohol to minors or hosting parties where they know minors are drinking. For example, parents or guardians could sue party hosts if their minor children were injured as a result of the alcohol.

The legislation allows law enforcement officers with probable cause to believe minors are drunk to administer a blood-alcohol test to them. Ridgeway said that provision is intended to close a loophole that prevents police from arresting minors who appear drunk, but who are not seen holding or consuming an alcoholic drink.

Also under the bill, minors found guilty of at least three offenses of possessing alcohol would lose their scholarships under the A-plus Schools Program that provides tuition to community colleges.

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Alcohol bill is SB747.

On the Net:

Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov