Oh Brave New Alcohol!

Oh Hangover, where art thy sting, thy oppressive weight? What Brave New Alcohol is this where in Man suffers not?

An alcohol substitute that mimics its pleasant buzz without leading to drunkenness and hangovers is being developed by scientists.
But unlike alcohol its does not affect other parts of the brain that control mood swings and lead to addiction. It is also much easier to flush out of the body.
Finally because it is much more focused in its effects, it can also be switched off with an antidote, leaving the drinker immediately sober.
The new alcohol is being developed by a team at Imperial College London, led by Professor David Nutt, Britain's top drugs expert who was recently sacked as a government adviser for his comments about cannabis and ecstasy.
He envisions a world in which people could drink without getting drunk, he said.
No matter how many glasses they had, they would remain in that pleasant state of mild inebriation and at the end of an evening out, revellers could pop a sober-up pill that would let them drive home.
Prof Nutt and his team are concentrating their efforts on benzodiazepines, of which diazepam, the chief ingredient of Valium is one.

There goes AA's biz....

» more at: www.telegraph.co.uk

Posted By gwyllm at 2010-01-01 15:58:05 permalink | comments

Tags: alcohol

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P-nut butter breakdown. : 2010-01-14 17:33:08

this guy wasnt sacked he quit.
He proposed this question
Which is safer to give to a stranger, a bowl of peanuts or a bowl of ecstasy?
the bowl of ecstasy since some are allergic to peanuts while the drug you know the effects and will not harm the person.
London moved marijuana to the same area under law as hard drugs like heroine. This absurd move was enough for him to quit after he had lost faith in the council.
and comment #1 hahaha i love the kids in the hall, they have a new special on, check it out, its called death comes to town.

krista. : 2010-01-13 03:35:54

does it also make it feel like its always 72 degrees in your head? I want a new drug too Huey. There has to be better from the people who brought us viagra and rohipnol.

Anonymous. : 2010-01-12 07:45:01

If you're looking for 100% safe, I don't think you'll find it in this particular reality. It would be a bit of a stretch to characterize alcohol that way, since it is somewhat toxic and has known, measurable deleterious effects on the human body.

Barney Gumble. : 2010-01-11 19:41:04

Gosh, I think there is something special or satisfying about drinking 'ethanol', an inebriating compound that has existed and has played an integral part in human history for as long as man can remember. Also, it's a natural by-product of nature's biosynthetic mechanism.

Nothing that is artificially created (man-made) will ever have my complete trust because no matter how much research as gone into its effects, it can never be considered 100% "safe". Sure, they'll tell you that their data is conclusive yadda, yadda, yadda, but in my opinion, nothing is tested as thoroughly as one that has been put to nature's own test.

So I'll keep my drunkenness and hangovers, thank you. It's all part of the fun anyway.

willywonka. : 2010-01-10 19:06:03

Or you could just smoke pot .....

guest : 2010-01-08 08:48:45

or we could just get high

Mike W.. : 2010-01-05 21:30:15

Never stouch the tuff, myself................

anon. : 2010-01-04 20:36:51

except that this will never taste like a good wine, or beer, for that matter. or scotch, and so on.

i think this is stupid. i find it hard to believe that a derivative of valium wouldn't give you hangover, for those who have had valium before. although ,if this becomes legal, it would be epic to mix both alcohol and this stuff.

Former Trekkie. : 2010-01-04 08:46:02

"Have some Tranya"...

guest : 2010-01-03 23:13:06

I thought the point of drinking was to get drunk?

Stevo. : 2010-01-03 08:35:24

Synthahol

Josep Yao. : 2010-01-02 18:46:12

Thats what i was thinking motley.

Unless this guy works some serious magic, there are still going to be drawbacks to his drug. It shouldn't be hard to make it safer and healthier than alcohol, those aren't shooting very high.

However, as long as there are still some dangers (no matter how trivial) he will face serious legal challenges. Big alcohol companies wont take this lying down. Neither will anyone who has an interest in the drug war.

Suppose he succeeds, and the argument of "Its safer than alcohol" comes up. If he wins that, the argument can be applied to a multitude of other psychoactives!

I would love to see some modern "prohibition" propaganda about how alcohol makes abusive spouses, rapists, child abusers, and criminals. And how it is a dangerous date rape drug and contributes to thousands of deaths every year.

Each of those has more truth in it than most other anti-drug propaganda, but that is not how we see it due to our society's conditioning.

Well, i got a bit off topic in there :/

dononamous. : 2010-01-02 18:23:01

if it dosnt cause brain damage = win

motley. : 2010-01-02 03:41:55

sounds wonderfully addictive.

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