Legislation to allow 151-proof clear grain alcohol to be sold in Virginia liquor stores has moved through the General Assembly with the speed of, well, white lightning, prompting public health officials at colleges and universities to ask Gov. Terry McAuliffe to veto the bill.
The Virginia College Alcoholic Leadership Council warned McAuliffe this week that House Bill 143, which is on its way to the governor after gliding through the legislature with little opposition in either chamber, poses a health threat to students because it would allow the sale of low-priced “extreme strength” alcohol that is tasteless, odorless and colorless.
“These beverages are very low cost, and their unflavored nature makes the level of alcohol difficult to detect,” said Steven Clarke, the council’s executive director and director of the Campus Alcohol Abuse Prevention Center at Virginia Tech, in a letter to the governor.
Clarke warned that the consequences could include an increase in alcohol-related sexual assaults, including use as a weapon by sexual predators. “Further, this would likely result in increases in negative consequences for our campuses, such as personal injury, property damage, and academic non-performance,” he told the governor.
Legislative leaders said the swift passage of the bill, sponsored by Del. Barry D. Knight, R-Virginia Beach, was not influenced by $5,500 in campaign contributions that Luxco made to legislative political action committees in December.
The St. Louis-based company produces Everclear, a neutral grain alcohol product that can be sold at 151 and 190 proof in Virginia only to holders of special permits for industrial, commercial culinary and medical uses, not in state Alcoholic Beverage Control stores.
