Four Loko, an alcoholic energy drink, died on the steps of Low Plaza last week, but it still remains in stores and dorms throughout Morningside Heights.
A group of students from the Columbia Marching Band held a mock funeral for the fad drink, which was officially banned by Governor David Patterson on Nov. 19, but a number of stores continue to sell the drink to loyal mourners.
Abdul Aldhimi, the manager of 109 Deli, popularly known as CrackDel, said the sandwich shop stocked up on one of its best sellers, after getting wind of the ban.
“We have a lot left of the drink, we ordered a lot before the ban. A lot of people have come in and bought a lot of it. They want to stock up now,” said Aldhimi, adding that there are a number of cases in the basement.
Next week Aldhimi said they will receive a shipment of the new Four Loko, with the same 12% alcoholic content but no caffeine.
Cora Katz-Samuels, a first year in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said that the ban of the drink was unfair.
“I love the drink. My boyfriend and I have been stocking up these past couple weeks. The 7-Eleven by us still has a ton left as of a couple days ago, so I bought a ton,” Katz-Samuels said.
Lawmakers and university administrators across the country moved to ban the drink last month, after the dangers of combining alcohol and caffeine were widely publicized. But Katz-Samuels said she didn’t think banning the drink would help solve the bigger problem of binge drinking.
“The people who are getting sick or put in the hospital as a result of the drink are the ones who are being stupid when they drink. The problem lies in people drinking too much alcohol, not in drinking too much of this certain drink. This is just putting a Band-Aid on a social epidemic in the United States,” Katz-Samuels said.
Tim Monagan, a bartender at 1020, said the popular bar on 110th and Amsterdam has never sold Four Loko on principle.
“We don’t sell it because it makes people go crazy, makes them bounce off the walls, and it is low brow. We don’t want to run an establishment that sells stuff that makes people get dangerously drunk,” Monaghan said.
“The ban is great. There is absolutely no use for the drink, it turns problem drinkers into alcoholics,” Monaghan added.
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