The Idaho Senate has voted 17-16 in favor of HB 331a, the bill to ban powdered alcohol, which a manufacturer is preparing to market as a product called “Palcohol.” “Powdered alcohol is considered to be prone to abuse,” said Sen. Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum. Twenty-nine other states already have banned it; the Liquor Division proposed the ban out of concern that the product could be misused or easily concealed in places where alcohol isn’t permitted.

Sen. Cliff Bayer, R-Boise, brought out a beaker and a small bottle of liquor for his debate, in which he said Palcohol isn’t available yet, and Idaho officials have had no way to test the safety of the product without making it themselves in a lab, which hasn’t happened. Based on chemistry, Bayer argued that no one could snort powdered alcohol, and it would take lots of the powder to equal a drink. “It can be regulated by our liquor dispensary,” Bayer said. “I would submit to the body that: Could it be abused? Yes. Can anything be abused? Yes. Could it hypothetically be abused to the same level of what you can get through the dispensary? No, there’s just no way. It’s not only impractical, it’s physically impossible.”

The bill was proposed by Idaho’s state Liquor Division. It earlier passed the House on a 42-24 vote; the measure now goes to Gov. Butch Otter.