Targeting youth to start drinking

After several highly publicized hospitalizations and deaths of underage college students that apparently involved Four Loko, the Food and Drug Administration this week gave its creator, Phusion Projects, and its competitors 15 days to eliminate the caffeine. The agency said the mixture can produce “wide-awake’’ drunks and create “hazardous and life-threatening situations.’’ This week Massachusetts joined several other states in outright banning the drink. - The Boston Globe