Charleston, W. Va. ? West Virginia is doing away with high-proof grain alcohol, citing safety concerns raised by college officials and others.

The state’s Alcohol Beverage Control Administration has stopped stocking 190-proof grain alcohol at its warehouse, which provides all liquor sold in the state.

Agency officials said they are responding to concerns by college officials, law enforcement agencies and community groups about the alcohol, which at 95 percent pure is significantly more potent than other distilled spirits.

Carla Lapelle, associate dean of Student Affairs at Marshall University, said she was unaware of any incidents involving grain alcohol among students at Marshall, which already bans all alcohol on campus, but she considered the move prudent. “It has traditionally been purchased by groups of people, often college students, who are intent on getting very drunk and who suffer serious consequences from a severe hangover to falling victim to sexual assault or even a car crash,” she said.

West Virginia University spokeswoman Becky Lofstead applauded the agency’s efforts, but she also could recall no specific episodes blamed on grain alcohol abuse.

At least a dozen other states ban or limit the sale of 190-proof grain alcohol. Pennsylvania and Virginia, for instance, sell it only for medicinal or commercial use, and require a permit for its purchase.

Grain alcohol is “a decent mover, or it was,” said Phyllis Hitchcock, manager of Classic Liquors in Huntington, Marshall’s home. “But the biggest sale of it was for labs and stuff. It’s used as a cleaning solvent.”

Officials have begun distributing a 151-proof version of grain alcohol through the state’s warehouse.