Just Add Water

Arizona businessman Mark Phillips thinks he has a winner on his hands. It has the catchy name ‘' Palcohol'' , for powdered alcohol. (palcohol.com)

His idea, he says born from a camping trip when he was thirsting for a cocktail after he was finished, is simply this. Sell a powdered form of alcohol in an envelope , take it with you wherever you go, pour it into a mixer, and presto, you have a mixed drink. One packet equals one cocktail. His idea is to sell these packets, perhaps at $3.99 apiece, anywhere liquor is sold.

Phillips hopes to have it on the market by this summer, but not if his critics have anything to say about it. Michael Scippa from an organization called Alcohol Justice calls Palcohol a ‘‘stupid product'. He is trying to get states to ban it, a few have, not yet California. You can read about his organizations concerns here

Basically Scippa's worry is that young people are going to get it, illegally, and abuse it, sneaking it into concerts parties, their homes, you name it.

Phillips says teenagers have always managed to get alcohol, and that's not right. But it's wrong to single out his product. In particular, he says it ‘s wrong to ban anything because that will only make it more attractive. He says anything can be abused, and that seems true, but Scippa's point is that Palcohol makes it easier. It's an interesting debate that's getting a lot of attention. Watch Phil Shuman's report on Palcohol.