The furor over Four Loko—a caffeinated alcoholic beverage making headlines due to its suspected health risks—has reached Somerville. Last night, the Board of Aldermen set a plan into action to remove the allegedly dangerous malt beverage from Somerville liquor store shelves.

Citing a recent incident in Washington, in which Four Loko is suspected of inducing seizures, blackouts and other reactions that led to the hospitalization of nine college students and the reported near-death of one, the Board moved to stop the sale of Four Loko in the city.

Alderman says fruity drinks in colorful cans are targeting teens

The fruit-flavored canned drink contains three times the alcohol content of beer, or 12 percent alcohol. One can contains the alcohol equivalent of roughly three beers. Health officials warn that adding caffeine to that mix can initially mask the effects of the alcohol and lead to overdrinking. 

"All of us know that there are enough products on the shelf that are going to cause harm to kids without making them twice as harmful and making it more likely that they could have seizures, and black out and possibly take in a lethal amount of alcohol into their system," said Alderman-at-Large Bruce M. Desmond, who co-sponsored Board action on the issue along with Ward Five Alderman Sean T. O'Donovan.

"It's marketed with citrus flavors," added Desmond. "So it's marketed towards teens, with cans the same way, with bright colors marketed towards teens again, though they'll deny it, but it is."

If a voluntary halt to sales fails, a legal ban may be pursued

Two actions were discussed. The Board voted unanimously to first ask liquor stores to voluntarily halt sales of the beverage. They requested that the Director of Health work with the City program Somerville Cares About Prevention to immediately contact all holders of off-premise liquor licenses and request they remove Four Loko from their shelves.

Should that not work, the Board also voted unanimously to consult with the City Solicitor to determine if legal action to block the sale of Four Loko in Somerville could be pursued. A search on the Four Loko website lists the drink as available at 16 liquor stores in Somerville.

"I believe with the cooperation of all the liquor store owners in the city to voluntarily take it off their shelves, then none of them will get hurt financially because one has it and the other does not," said Desmond. "If they can agree to that, then that would be wonderful. If they can't and the City Solicitor decides that we can do something legally to prevent the sale of it, then I would push that."

Company denies Four Loko at fault

In a press release, the makers of Four Loko said their product was both abused and consumed illegally by those involved in the Washington incident. But as similar incidents allegedly involving Four Loko have occurred elsewhere, colleges and municipalities across the country are considering bans. The drink has largely been referred to as "liquid crack" by media reports.

"We spend millions of dollars trying to prevent kids from starting to drink and billions of dollars trying to help them get off it once they do get addicted to it. It's a big problem in society as we all know," said Desmond. "Having this lethal dose off the shelf…at least we'll have sent the message that the City is not going to put up with it."

Somerville teens are consuming Four Loko

"I do know from conversations with different kids at the high school that kids in Somerville are drinking it," added Desmond. "I'm hoping the City can be aggressive in trying to keep this out of the hands of our kids."

Alderman-at-Large Bill White and Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane also spoke in support of the proposals.

"As always Alderman Desmond and O'Donovan are right on target here," said Trane. "I saw a news story about this the other night and what's happening is that kids are drinking all this caffeine with the alcohol and as the caffeine buzz wears off, they have no idea of what's going on. They are blacking out. They're hallucinating in some cases. They are collapsing. This isn't recreational….this is dangerous. It's a health hazard."

 Katie Lannigan contributed to this report.