Machine makes it easy to inhale hard liquor

The drink arrives, not in a glass, but in a puff of alcohol-laden vapor. Imbibers sit beside each other on bar stools, breathing deeply from plastic devices that resemble giant asthma inhalers.

Even though the futuristic Alcohol Without Liquid machines have apparently not arrived in Massachusetts, some legislators and law enforcement officials are so fearful of their potency that the House will hear testimony today on a bill banning the machines, which are popular in Europe. Promoters say the devices deliver low-calorie, low-carb, hangover-free doses of booze.

Officials say the machines, known as AWOL, pose a danger, especially in a region heavily populated by college students. Sponsors of the bill say they want to ban the devices before they can debut in Massachusetts.

Local communities are also seeking to regulate the machines before they arrive in neighborhood taverns. Last month, the town of West Bridgewater notified all bars and restaurants with liquor licenses that they would need approval from selectmen before installing AWOL machines. No one has requested permission for the devices, said Elizabeth D. Faricy, administrator for the selectmen.

''It's like the crack cocaine of alcohol," said Raynham Police Chief Louis J. Pacheco, who has seen news stories about AWOL. ''You're just making it easier to get the substance into your system."

Several states -- including Colorado, Kansas, and Michigan -- have already banned AWOL machines, and a dozen more are considering doing so, said Representative John F. Quinn, a cosponsor of the bill whose district includes Dartmouth, home to a University of Massachusetts campus. Quinn said he worries that the machines send alcohol to the brain more quickly than traditional drinking and would appeal to young drinkers.

''It glorifies the reckless consumption of alcohol," he said.

Officials at Spirit Partners, the North Carolina company that is selling AWOL, did not return several phone calls yesterday. The company's website calls the machine the ''ultimate party toy." In a press release, the company announced that it is looking for distributors in every state. Spirit Partners recommends that users limit themselves to two 20-minute hookups to the machines within 24 hours to avoid inhaling too much alcohol.

Users pour a half-shot of their choice of alcohol into the machine's vaporizer, which mixes the liquid with pure oxygen. The process creates vapors, which users inhale in a 20-minute stint. Since the alcohol enters the lungs, rather than the stomach, company officials say, it is absorbed with few calories and carbohydrates and is less likely to produce the nausea and headaches of hangover.

A machine for a single user, which the website touts as ''a great Christmas gift," sells for $299. Four-person machines for bars cost $2,895.

The state treasurer, Timothy Cahill, who oversees the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, will testify today in support of the bill banning AWOL devices.

''We think it's dangerous and it's going to make it more difficult for us to police the alcohol industry," he said. ''I don't think this type of machine or this method of ingesting alcohol is really good for the Commonwealth."

Daniel Pokaski, chairman of Boston's Licensing Board, says he has not seen any bars offering AWOL machines. But he worries that the machines would encourage drinkers, especially college students, to consume alcohol more quickly.

''I can see these replacing the keg parties," he said. ''I think it's a bad idea."

Pacheco, the Raynham police chief, said town leaders should ban the machines. He worries that AWOL users would absorb alcohol more quickly, without having to down a beverage or get a full feeling from liquid in the stomach.

''Alcohol's a very, very dangerous substance all by itself," he said. ''When you get a delivery mechanism that cuts out a lot of the safeguards, then there's a huge risk."

Shaun DePorter, executive vice president of the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity at UMass-Darmouth, said he had never heard of the AWOL device.

And some say the technology fizzles. A New Jersey bar owner who bought one of the first machines sold in this country sent his back, saying it made it too hard to get drunk.

Kathleen Burge can be reached at kburge@globe.com.