Chief says no to powdered alcohol

Wheat Ridge Chief of Police Dan Brennan voiced his opinion against the sale and use of powdered alcohol in Wheat Ridge and in favor of felony charges for repeat DUI offenders at the annual legislative forum at the council study session Feb. 2.

Each year, state representatives and senators show up to a council study session to garner the opinions of Wheat Ridge’s public officials on various bills headed to the state house and senate in the legislative session. Chief Brennan announced the Wheat Ridge Police Department’s stance on HB15-1031, which would ban the use, sale, manufacture, possession or transfer or powdered alcohol.  He also said the WRPD is in support of a bill that would introduce felony charges for multiple drunk driving offenses.

Powdered Alcohol, or Palcohol as Lipsmark, LLC a privately held company based out of  Arizona, calls it, turns into standard alcohol when dissolved in water. According to the Palcohol website, the benefits of powdered alcohol is that it makes the transport of alcohol, particularly mixed drinks, easier and more viable for people on-the-go especially for hikers and outdoorsman.

However a number of states have introduced legislation to outright ban the product and Colorado is one of those states. House Bill 15-1031, sponsored by Democrat Representative Nancy Todd out of District 28  and Republican Representative JoAnn Windholz from District 30, places a prohibition on powdered alcohol and makes a violation of the ban a class 2 misdemeanor. The bill passed the house Feb. 2.  

Chief Brennan believes permitting powered alcohol would have a profound impact on public safety especially on the youth of the city.

HB15-1043 would make a third DUI in seven years a class four felony if the driver fled the scene, had a minor in the car at the time of the incident, had a Blood Alcohol content of .15 or greater or caused damage to any person or property. A bill of this type isn’t new to the Colorado legislature as a similar bill failed on the senator floor in May of last year.

Of the new bill, Chief Brennan said it addresses the need to get repeat offenders off of the road.

“It takes those drivers who can’t control their alcohol or drug addictions and have multiple convictions off the streets and provide them the resources that they need,” Brennan said at the forum.

The police chief also mentioned that there were a couple bills made in response to the recent controversies surrounding the deaths of Eric Garner in New York and Mike Brown in Ferguson. Chief Brennan said he would like legislators to keep the WRPD in the loop so they could assess the local impact of any proposed measures.