4/11/05

                                        Don’t go AWOL?

        Reports released Thursday intensify scrutiny cast on "Alcohol without Liquid" devices.

A California assembly committee has now passed a bill banning the devices. These machines

allow people to inhale alcoholic vapors rather than drinking. Most AWOL devices consist of two

components: an oxygen generator and a hand-held vaporizer. Tubes from the generator attach to

the vaporizer. The user chooses an 80-proof spirit, which is poured into the vaporizer. Oxygen

mixes with the alcohol producing a mist which is inhaled through the mouth. The alcohol enters the

blood stream via the lungs and supposedly “affects the body in the same way as drinking alcohol.”

        Many people agree that these machines encourage the abuse of alcohol and present unknown

health risks.