This sounds like a very very very bad idea
“This sounds like a very very very bad idea”
No, the biased and alarmist reporting is a bad idea. This product though is a great idea.
Do you know what a godsend this is to backpackers? Easier to back than bottles or flasks, little if any waste to destroy or carry out, significantly lower weight - just filter some water. Even the ultralight crowd can get behind this innovation. Hell, they just need to work up some powdered coca-cola now and you can have a backpacker’s rum&coke a week into a PCT or AT hike.
As far as kids buying it and using it, there’s as much danger of that as them buying beer or everclear. I can’t conceive of this encouraging any significantly greater underage alcohol use or abuse, and given the significantly higher cost per ounce for cyclodextrin-encased alcohol I can’t see teenagers wasting money on this when they could get a cheap bottle of vodka instead.
As far as public intoxication and the like, seems like it would be a lot less surreptitious than the old standby of filling up a camelbak with everclear and lemonade before the ball game, or mixing something in a styrofoam cup from a fast-food joint before taking a walk.
In short, it’s likely to be an expensive boutique product for a very small subset of customers. It won’t significantly influence alcohol abuse or public intoxication. It will however make a hard day’s hike in rough country a little more enjoyable.