Small Local Distillery Helping To Potentially Save Lives In Covid - 19 Shortages
By Robert Thomas
EDITORIAL UPDATE - After the original story was published the Smooth 42 Distillery was contacted by the RCMP and they were informed donating the topical alcohol - although a potential life saver - was in fact against the Force’s policy and the unopened bottles were returned to the distillery and the opened bottles were paid for.
The reason for the policy is the Force and its members do not accept donations of any sort because they could create an impression the Force could be influenced by it. As such the donation had to be declined. The RCMP Traffic Patrol was successfully able to acquire replacement alcohol through their official supply chain.
We can emphatically state our look at this entire story found what you had were two local entrepreneurs who could not see themselves charging the official minimum price of $47.10 per litre for what is for all intensive purposes is rubbing alcohol - a disinfectant to help save lives. This at a time when front line responders and health institutions cannot find any and supplies are limited. Additionally they had no intent to market a product which was very expensive for its intended purpose and take advantage of institutions and people during a major health crisis.
When we live in a world where many people bought out these life saving products from stores only to sell them online for many times their original retail price these two men are in many ways an inspiration in a time where so many are lead by their greed and not their humanity.
Despite the RCMP not being able to accept the donation it in no way takes away from these two men’s efforts to lend a hand and help others in what really is a time of crisis so the people on the front lines fighting Covid - 19 and possibly you could stay well and not become sick and/or worse. For this I personally believe they still deserve our admiration for giving so much and wanting to help.
In a world filled with panic, rumour, greed and corruption these two men in many ways give us hope there are people who still care. Something we need right now.
The original story is below - Robert
At 10 am Thursday morning there was an exchange between a local business owner and the RCMP Traffic Division in Regina.
An exchange which is technically illegal but at the same time an exchange which has the potential to save the lives of emergency responders and medical personnel in Saskatchewan while at the same time costing the business owner hundreds of dollars.
The RCMP got the product for free and the local business may find themselves on the hook financially later for the product they supplied the RCMP that the Mounties cannot purchase in their regular supply chain but need it to safely do their jobs.
It is also a product that is making a couple of local entrepreneurs unsung heroes for many on the frontlines in battling Covid - 19.
So what product was exchanged that has such great potential and financial peril?
The product is medical grade ethanol or vodka that the Smooth 42 distillery in Brownlee, Saskatchewan is turning out as fast as possible and distributing for free to emergency service personnel and medical professionals in the province who require it.
“When this shit (Covid - 19) broke out you couldn’t get any hand sanitizer so we decided to move into this,” said Adam Dombowsky who with his partner Sacha Elez own and operate the distillery.
Sacha Elez and Adam Dombowsky during the bottling of emergency medical vodka to be used topically as rubbing alcohol - submitted photo
Taking out a $100,000 loan the pair of local entrepreneurs quickly moved their production to a product which has the potential to save lives and stop the spread of Covid - 19.
“We found out that medical professionals, ambulance companies, fire departments and the police could not get any rubbing alcohol so we decided to do our part and offer our product for free to them so they can continue to do their jobs without having to worrying about finding this,” Dombowsky said. Both Dombowsky and Elez serve as volunteer fire fighters in Brownlee.
The financial part comes in that although they are giving the product away to frontline personnel needed to help fight the Covid - 19 crisis there is a minimum price that they can sell their 70 percent alcohol product for and that price is $47.10 per litre. The potential cost to the company in excise taxes and fees for freely helping out the RCMP is $565.20 plus their own production costs on top of that.
“When we looked at it we just could not see charging emergency personnel $47.10 for what they are using as rubbing alcohol to save lives. We could not consience wise charge that.”
“We have not figured out what this is actually going to cost us, but we knew we needed to help out,” he said.
So how necessary is their product to essential services and medical workers? It is so much requested that their production run of 1,000 litres is gone in a single day.
“We get calls from all over the province. From the police, city police, fire departments, care homes, hospitals, ambulance departments and EMOs asking for us to bring them some. They cannot get rubbing alcohol and the supplers say it is not coming anytime soon. By the end of the day we will have 1,000 litres of product and by the end of the day it will all be gone the need is that great.”
Although the product is essentially vodka there is no concern about the taste and more of the production run can be used.
“We are not concerned about the taste of the product. We have to run off the first bit of the head as there may be things in there which are not good for medical use. But once we hit the 70 percent of alcohol we can bottle it and then use it for medical uses,” Dombowsky said.
The 70 percent alcohol content comes from Centre for Disease Control recommendations in Atlanta which say to be used as a topical medicinal the alcohol content has to be 70 percent alcohol or higher.
Despite the potential financial costs his firm is set to face he is hopeful that the federal government in the end will at least wave the $8.66 excise duty.
Dombowsky said the product they are producing is potentially consumable but that is not what it is intended for and the bottles are labelled as such.
Usually to qualify for a product that is topical use only a certain percentage has to be methanol but that is where the problem lies as panic buying and medical facility buying has basically stripped the methanol industry bare and there is no rubbing alcohol available. The company cannot access food grade products to blend with their product and as such would have to leave their product in their plant at a time it is desperately needed by frontline medical and emergency personnel to save lives.
Despite the potential financial costs the small firm and partners may face for giving their product away for free Dombowsky says it is well worth it if it is helping to keep medical, emergency, frontline personnel and patients safe and in the end helping to save lives.