AWOL releases single user machine

Alcohol WithOut Liquid (AWOL) has launched a small portable, home version of the controversial commercial AWOL machines launched last year into pubs, clubs and bars. The personal AWOL machine will be named AWOL 1 and will be priced at US$299, a significant reduction from the commercial two and four person AWOL machines, priced at US$2595 and US$2895 respectively. The price reduction has been enabled by substituting the oxygen generator used in AWOL 2 and 4 for an air compressor used in AWOL 1. Both methods deliver alcohol into the bloodstream in the same way - a method that has caused controversy on both sides of the Atlantic, though some US states seem intent on taking sillyness to new extremes.

The American reaction to the AWOL machine has been amazing with three states Colorado, Iowa, Missouri introducing legislation to ban the AWOL machine and Congressman Bob Beauprez reintroducing legislation that would temporarily ban the Alcohol Without Liquid device on February 9, 2005.

The bill, the Alcohol Without Liquid Machine Safety Act of 2005 (H.R. 613), would subject the device to the Food and Drug Administration pre-market approval processes.

Rep. Beauprez first introduced this legislation in September of 2004 during the 108 th Congress. At that time, Rep. Beauprez also sent a letter to Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton asking the task force on alcohol abuse at Colorado State University to recommend banning AWOL devices in Colorado. Since then, Colorado State Senator Bob Hagedorn has introduced legislation to ban AWOL machines at the state level.

"I'm pleased that we were able to quickly reintroduce this legislation early in the new session, and I look forward to working to gain the support needed to get it passed," said Rep. Beauprez. "I'm the kind of guy that believes pretty strongly in the free market, but some things are just common sense. This device potentially presents an enormous risk, and in the interest of public safety on our highways and the safety of our children, we need to look into this further before we see these machines in Colorado bars or restaurants."

All alcohol products sold in America must be federally approved by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, but since the AWOL machine is technically a device rather than an alcohol product, it was able to avoid regulatory oversight.

The amount of unfavourable press (example one, example two) the AWOL machine has garnered in some American states has been huge.

Suggestions the AWOL machine could lead to underage drinking and alcohol poisoning also seem to be gross over-reactions, given that it takes far longer to consume a given amount of alcohol with the AWOL machine than via traditional means.

The UK Department of Health Alcohol Policy Unit has also gone on public record regarding the AWOL machine stating that "we are not aware of any current evidence to suggest that the use of the AWOL machine ... poses particular risks to the user over and above the risks that may be posed by consuming an equivalent amount of alcohol , in an equivalent time period, in a more 'traditional' way."

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