Craic On

There’s a new drug that mimics the effects of alcohol but without the cost. Also there’s no hangover with it and you can take another drug to sober up straight away.

It sounds like heaven for those who like a drink but would rather not have the side effects. Also, they would be happy to be able to take the cancelling-out drug at the end of the night.

Think about it. You could go for a drink at lunchtime and then take the pill and come back to work completely sober. You could go out for a night out, enjoy yourself and walk back into the house completely sober.

Funding

A Professor David Nutt (that’s his real name) wants Government funding to be able to develop the drug further. He said that it could lead to a ‘revolution in health’. Think of all the alcohol related deaths and all the hospital time taken up be people who have abused alcohol and the crimes committed by those on it. That would all be a thing of the past.

Nutt said that it would do for drinking what the e-cigarette had done for smoking. He is asking the Government to encourage the development of the drug so that he can get investment.

Saving Money

He claimed the drug would do for alcohol what the e-cigarette had done for smoking. He said it would save the NHS billions.

It seems that the drug targets the brain to give the taker feelings the same as the effects they get from drinking alcohol. However, the antidote to it means that you could drive home sober or go back to work sober.

Professor Nutt (or is it the Nutty Professor) resigned from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of drug
s a few years ago after a policy clash.

Killer

He argued that alcohol killed 1.5m a year in the UK and that 10% of drinkers became addicted – something that wouldn’t happen with his pill. he said that other effects like memory loss would not happen with this drug. If you had a good night out you would remember all about it the next day.

He needs the government’s blessing, though, if he is to attract investors. He can’t find anyone in the drinks industry to fund his research for obvious reasons.

Cocktails

he said that the drug could be taken with a range of non-alcoholic cocktails. He said he’s done the experiment himself. Nutt said “I’ve done the prototype experiments myself”. I’ve been inebriated and then it’s been reversed by the antagonist.

“That’s what really gave us the idea. There’s no question that you can produce a whole range of effects like alcohol by manipulating the brain.”

It seems that it is early days in the research and he would need funding to be able to develop his drug properly. One feels there would be a market for it when it did happen.