Drugs to interrupt other drugs

And now, a couple of related stories on the medical front. First, did you know about the wonder drug that reverses the effects of cocaine?

Dexmedetomidine, a sedative medication used by anaesthesiologists, counteracts the effects of cocaine on the human cardiovascular system, including lowering the elevated heart rate and blood pressure, according to researchers at the University of Texas Sourthwestern Medical Center.... The researchers have found that dexmedetomidine effectively reverses the action of cocaine on heart rate, blood pressure, and vascular resistance in the skin by interfering with the ability of cocaine to increase nerve activity.

“Typically, patients with cocaine overdoses in the emergency room are treated with nitroglycerin, sedatives such as Valium, and some blood-pressure medications such as calcium channel blockers and some beta blockers,” Dr. Vongpatanasin said.

“However, the standard treatments don’t alleviate all of the adverse effects of cocaine on the heart, blood pressure and central nervous system” she added.

But that's not all, folks. Research has indicated that the cravings felt by heavy alcohol drinkers are due at least in part to genetics, and scientists are looking for a chemical means to interrupt those cravings:

Fred Risinger never gives his eastern Idaho bar patrons a last call - but then his customers are mice. Some are teetotalers who eschew the mouse-sized shots of alcohol they can obtain at any time simply by pressing a lever in their cage. Others Risinger describes as "your wine with dinner mice."

And some are raging alcoholics, downing, in human terms, several fifths of liquor each day.

Risinger, an Idaho State University professor, said what makes the alcohol cravings in the individual mice different is the same thing that makes the alcohol cravings in humans different: genetics.

His goal is to find the right combination of drugs to short-circuit those genetic cravings that would lead the heavy drinkers, first with mice and then humans, to be able to turn away from alcohol.

"The majority of drugs I work with are so new they don't even have a name," Risinger, Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences chairman, told the Idaho State Journal. "I'm looking for an agent that eliminates craving while allowing people to maintain their daily functions."

Alcoholism is serious trouble and an agent like that would obviously go a long way toward helping break vicious cycles of abuse. But it also strikes me as similar to the quest for the perfect anti-obesity pill... and maybe someday we'll also have the anti-violence pill, and the anti-independent-thought bill, all helpfully distributed via the water supply. Come on, it'd be fun.