Praise for ending the buzz in booze

An alcoholic beverage company promoting booze juiced with caffeine has a slogan that reads, "You can sleep when you're 30."

Gee, whom do you think they're trying to reach with that bit of marketing genius?

Underage drinking is a bad enough problem in the suburbs and around the nation. Do we really want underage and of-age young adults getting drunk and thinking they're perfectly fine to drive because they're also on a caffeine buzz? Do we want older adults thinking that and driving drunk too?

We don't think so.

Last March, the Daily Herald wrote about growing concerns among elected officials and advocacy groups about caffeinated alcoholic drinks some beverage companies produce that seem to be pushed toward young drinkers - legal or otherwise.

Alcohol producers primarily use the Web to push these drinks. One site featured a section on air guitars, while another featured techno music and a nightclub scene to promote malt beverages with greater alcohol content than average beer, plus caffeine. Somewhere in the mix on these sites are admonitions to "drink responsibly" or "to be enjoyed responsibly by adults."

The slogan about sleeping at age 30 was shared with the Daily Herald back in March by George Hacker. Hacker is director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest's alcohol policies project. His organization is trying to get so-called alcoholic energy drinks banned, and so are 11 state attorneys general, including Illinois' Lisa Madigan.

Last week, they claimed their first victory.

Anheuser-Busch representatives said they would stop selling caffeinated alcoholic drinks like "Tilt" and "Bud Extra" as part of a settlement with the attorneys general.

Francine Katz, Anheuser-Busch's communications vice president, said nothing in the settlement suggests Anheuser-Busch "engaged in unlawful behavior or advertised to youth."

The attorneys general, though, had subpoenaed documents from the company related to its marketing strategies for the drinks.

And The Associated Press reported last week that Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe said documents in the case appeared to underscore the worry that teens and young adults were the targeted buyers of these drinks.

We might never know exactly what was in those documents. What we do know is that Anheuser-Busch says it will do the moral thing. Company officials say they will remix the drinks without the caffeine and they will pay Illinois and the 10 other states $200,000 as part of the settlement. Last year, the company stopped making Spykes, 2-ounce shots with 12 percent alcohol.

We urge Miller Brewing Co. and others who produce these edgy, alcoholic energy drinks to join them.

Anheuser-Busch might not have been doing anything illegal. And it has every right to make a profit and promote its products as it wants.

But we also think Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was on target when he said these drinks lead to "wide-awake drunks. They create a false sense of both security and capacity."

Anheuser Busch, the attorneys general and advocacy groups should be lauded for reaching this settlement. It's time the other alcoholic energy drink makers join them.