http://www.mnn.com/food/beverages/stories/new-drug-may-keep-you-sober-no-matter-how-much-youve-had-to-drink
A new drug called Dihydromyricetin or DHM could be the cure to alcoholism and hangovers alike. DHM is derived from the bark of a chinese variety of oriental raisin trees, of which, the bark has been used for over 500 years as an effective cure for hangovers in the far east.
It has been found that DHM can alleviate the effects of alcohol and reduce the desire for alcohol. A study on drunken rats found that drunk rats could be functional in five minutes as opposed to other rats that took over 70 minutes to be functional.
I also read an article which examines the rat study more in depth.
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/1/390
I find this drug could be useful in saving lives. According to the article, it is estimated that 2.5 million people die yearly from alcoholism. It would also be beneficial socially, for those who like to drink, but don't like to be hungover. I hope this drug hits the market soon.
Patrick Ryan
Very interesting article. You make some good points with the potential benefits. However, you are wrong in one regard. If this was to be released, it would not be available to the general public. For one, it would be used to combat the disease called Alcoholism, not post-fraternization. No policy maker would advocate for the potential benefits and revenue generated from the drunk college students, it would be focused on the actual treatment. Additionally, hangovers are there to remind you that one, you are human, and two, that you are stupid not learning the word moderation in third grade. It would be highly irresponsible to put forth a substance to encourage binge drinking due to the message it would present.
ReplyDeleteThis seems ideal... on the surface level. However, if I read this correctly, the drug does not necessarily offer help to those people who are suffering from alcoholism but more or less just acts as a way to "sober up" after you've already been drinking. As a college student, I would love to get my hands on this drug! To be able to be sober when I need to be, even after drinking, and to not experience a dreadful hangover the next day. However, if I was an alcoholic who was truly suffering from alcoholism.. I don't think that this would be the answer. It seems to me that an alcoholic would still be able to wake up in the morning and take a shot (or five) of whiskey and then take this pill and be sober for the rest of the day. However, that does not lower any of the harmful effects that alcohol has on your body because you could still continue to drink all day long, now you can drink more because you know you can fall back on this pill to sober up. Not only that, but now you have a pill to become dependent on in addition to your alcohol dependency that already exists.
ReplyDeleteIf you read the journal article @allison it says that the lab rats preferred to ingest water as opposed alcohol when on the DHM.I dont know if this could correlate to a human feeling less of an urge to drink. @Micah I agree with you that drinking needs to be taken in moderation, but why not let a drug be available to everyone when it counters the abuse of alcohol?
ReplyDeleteI agree that this drug could be used to control the effects of alcohol but Micah made a good point in the comments above stating that hangovers are there to remind us the downsides of drinking alcohol. If this is a drug that will be able to cure hangovers easily then people will be more inclined to drink just because they know they have something to take in the morning when they are hungover to make them feel better. I feel that this drug will make college kids want to drink more if they have the option of not having a hangover in the morning.
ReplyDeleteI think that this new drug is definitely a step in the right direction to finding a cure for alcoholism. In the study it said that the lab rats preferred to ingest water as opposed to alcohol when on the DHM. If in fact the drug had the same effect on humans as it did on the rats then I feel that it would help immensely when battling alcoholism to reduce the desire for an alcoholic beverage. However, I agree with everyone above about hangovers being an important consequence for drinking too much. If it were possible I think that it would be helpful for this treatment option to not completely eliminate hangovers so that way when alcoholics did overdo it with drinking habits they wouldn't be receiving reinforcement by getting to skip the consequences of a hangover.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the research that is being done as far as curing alcoholism is concerned because, according to the CDC, "excessive alcohol use [is] the 3rd leading lifestyle-related cause of death for the nation". While we were learning addiction in class we discussed possible methods of treatment which included Antagonistic treatments that block the effects of the drug. In this case, that is exactly what the article is discussing. I think it is worth the time and money to continue the research. Because this method of treatment requires the addict have a desire to get better treatment would have to be followed closely.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with using this pill to cure hangovers, however. If someone doesn't want to be hungover its simple - they can drink less or hydrate well before, during and after drinking. There are so many more important diseases and disorders out there that need our attention. We do not need to focus on things like hangovers that are preventable and not fatal.