Feierstein's friend, Luke Alexander, also a 21-year-old student at Maryland, agreed.
Students are "more concerned with how it helps them get where they want to be while they're partying than what it does to their body," he said.
Senior Ben Present, a journalism student who covered Four Loko use for the student newspaper, took a more neutral approach.
"They treat it just like any other type of alcohol," he said, but "it's gained a decent notoriety over the month that it's been popular here, and students know at this point that if they're going to drink it, keep it to one."
Four Loko maker Phusion Projects has said "when consumed responsibly," the product is "just as safe as any other alcoholic beverages," and that "consuming caffeine and alcohol together has been done safely for years."
The College Park campus hasn't received reports of negative incidents with Four Loko or competitors like Sparks, Tilt and Joose, said Amanda Long, the university's coordinator of campus alcohol programs.
Administrators are aware of student use, but rather than encourage a ban, they've opted for increased education and outreach through a section of the health center's website devoted to the drinks, and student-run presentations on the dangers of drinking too much of it.
Students should be cautious, Long said, because the drinks contain both depressants and stimulants -- and because the high from caffeine can veil how much alcohol is inside.
"We've got students who are not aware that they're getting more and more intoxicated because the caffeine is masking those signs they're used to feeling," she said. "The more they drink, they're going to get to a point where they've had too much, and they might not realize it until it's too late."
