Now a drug that gives you that alcohol buzz, but without a hangover

copyright Columbia News Service
By Kate Brumback
published May 2d, 2006

A British scientist's recent announcement that he had found a way to develop a drug that mimics the happy effects of alcohol--sociability and relaxation--without producing next-day headaches or ravaging the body sparked an immediate controversy.

“Every sip of alcohol does rot your liver,” said David Nutt, a professor of psychopharmacology at Bristol University, “and I think it would be preferable to have something that doesn’t rot your liver” but makes you feel happy.

Nutt said he had also come up with a way to instantly sober up from the fake drunk feeling--by taking a drug now used to treat tranquilizer overdoses. But while this cocktail of drugs (still in the theoretical research phase) may seem like a dream come true for anyone who has ever awoken with a splitting headache following a night of overindulgence, is taking a drug to produce a “good drunk” really a good idea?

Wilkie Wilson, a professor of pharmacology and co-author of “Buzzed: The Straight Facts About the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy,” suggested that eliminating all the bad effects of alcohol could do more harm than good. “Right now we have a drug--alcohol--with a built-in aversive effect if you get too much of it,” he said.

FULL ARTICLE - http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2006-05-02/brumback-gooddrunk