For years, young folks have been getting their buzz on with the help of fruit-flavored malt liquor concoctions like Sparks, Joose and Four Loko. This is a fact that has apparently just come across the desk of Senator Chuck Schumer of NY, who is now asking for federal help in getting these beverages out of the mouths of babes.

“The manufacturers are deliberately trying to get young people to drink,” Schumer told the press during a weekend photo-op outside a deli in Manhattan that sells the controversial drinks.

He claims that the design and marketing of these drinks, with their misspelled names, to-the-extreme logos and bright cans — oh, and also the fact that they only cost around $2 — is intended to attract consumers who haven’t yet reached legal drinking age. To that end, he’s requested the Federal Trade Commission to investigate.

Additionally, Schumer asked the Food and Drug Administration to hasten its ongoing study into the safety of mixing malt liquor with caffeine.

As one 16-year-old told the NY Daily News, “The alcohol makes you feel smooth and the caffeine makes you jittery.”

These kids today… I tell ya.

Sen. Schumer urges manufacturers to stop marketing fruity alcoholic Jooce, Four Loco drinks to kids [NY Daily News]

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