Synthetic Alcohol Gives Drinkers a Buzz Minus the Hangover, Addiction

I will stick with the Gin & Tonic, beer one-two punch I so dearly love.

I will pass on synthetic thanks

--GTO--

Maybe the inventor has been watching a lot of Star Trek TNG lately and decided to figure out how to make real "Synthahol" as I think they called it.

lets give it a chance and see if it works for the acholic.

Cannabis, MDMA and synthahol. Sounds like a wise compromise to telling the addictive nature of humans no.

Ahhh. Just another fine example of how Star Trek has been predicting the future for a good, long time now. Warp drive, here we come :-)

A drug by any other name is still a drug....

Everything in Star Trek is becoming a reality, really exciting!

....well let's hope we don't have a nuclear war, =P

More and more it seems our movies lead the development trail of our technology.

Saweet! Synthohol!

The trouble is, if this new substance is harmless but intoxicating, the gov't will not be able to permit it until they have "found" an explanation for outlawing cannabis.

This new substance will need Magic to get approved. I mean, if it also cures cancer or diabetes or the common cold, then the gov't will be able to approve it easily. Does this new substance have any Magic? Other than Tremendous Taxable-ness, of course?

I thought not. The gov't cannot approve it any more than they can approve its equivalent: cannabis. (Which they can, but they STILL deny that possibility, and rather than be caught being hypocritical in the bright light of reason, they will find a way to shut this down before it gets too close to that extremely embarrassing point.)

I am not as current on psychopharmacology as I should be, but last I knew benzodiazepines are extremely addictive and have largely fallen out of favor.

In lieu of that, I balk at any claim of any psychoactive substance that claims to be non-addictive. It might not be physically addictive, but that is (at least in my experience and observation) a relatively small part addiction. The desire for that sensation is grinding, and it insists upon itself.

The fact that this guy has been kicked off of advisory boards just screams bad idea.

"A drug by any other name is still a drug...."

Including alcohol.

An important part of harm reduction is to replace the dangerous drugs (Alcohol, Heroin) with those that are more benign (Cannabis, Nutt's Synthahol).

"The fact that this guy has been kicked off of advisory boards just screams bad idea."

He was kicked off of boards because he contradicted the Prime Minister and stated that his research board had found that Cannabis (Marijuana) and MDMA (Ecstasy) were both far safer than alcohol and that current drug policies don't reflect that. He did his job, was frustrated that his team wasn't taken seriously and spoke out, and in turn he was fired for it. Period.

Benzodiazepines such as Valium are addictive and also cause memory loss. I would be very interested in how an increase in dosage wouldn't cause a significant increase in inebriation.

The main advantage to using a benzodiazepine-related molecule as a substitute for alcohol would be that benzos don't poison every organ system in the body like alcohol does. No liver disease or neurotoxicity issues. Also, it would be unlikely to produce a fatal overdose. It would likely still be highly addictive and induce seizures upon withdrawal.

I have ridden with drunks and a person that had smoked pot before and would much rather ride with the pot smoker!! It seemed like he snapped out of it with any sign of trouble!

It doesn't even exist. They're just dreaming. If the stuff would make you a little drunk, but not drunker, how do they propose to achieve that?

If the stuff would be non-addicting, how would they know in advance? If it has a sedating effect, the brain would act to counter that effect. Then if it is absent, the brain would continue countering the foreign material's effects. How would they imagine a substance that would not allow that?

How do I sign up for the clinical trials? :-)

GARBAGE. Utter, worthless garbage.

As someone who has slept in their car and been involved with bar room brawls and questionable sex, I can say that it was part of my youth and I would do it all over again. No DUI's, no crippling addiction.

By the tone of this article, it seems that your choice is only being tipsy, or being completely wasted. PS should be ashamed of an article like this.

So, as an adult, here's my beef.

1) I make responsible choices, and regardless of health effects, it is still my choice. If someone is a "crippling addict" or a problem drinker, then they have no business being on ANYTHING, much less some synthetic drug.

2) Beer is NOT just about getting drunk. Living in San Diego, the craft beer central of the universe (Stone, ALpine, Alesmith, Port, etc.) I don't drink CRAP. I seriously doubt that this garbage will end up in a good IPA or a good Belgium. Sure, these are 7.5%+ at times... but you drink like an adult, not beer-bonging Natural Light etc.

This "drug" is destined to failure. Maybe in pill form it might go good with a Rum and Coke. Maybe they can treat alcoholics with it like methadone or something.

EPIC FAIL.

Sparksrick
Two comments.
Sounds like Kava. It's been used for thousands of years in the South Pacific and Hawai'i. Mild euphoria, even if you could drink a gallon or more. Also relieves muscle and joint pain. Kava is made from the roots of a certain type of pepper plant, by gathering the dried roots into a bag, pounding it to dust, and soaking the roots in water.

Looks like used dishwater, tastes like one might imagine cold tea made from old socks. It's actually protected by the FDA, and is legal in the US, but not Canada or France. Used by Fijians in the kava kava ceremony.

That said, there is more than one kind of addiction. Some of us get addicted to a specific substance, others get addicted to anything that makes them feel better. While I have never heard of a kava addict, I would think that like food, Jesus and beer, it's certainly open to dependency and abuse, just as synthahol would be.

I think the question is not really what we're using, but why?

Alcohol abuse goes hand-in-hand with a wide variety of problems (child/spouse abuse, drunk driving, violence, etc.), but alcohol is usually co-morbid with other psychological problems (e.g. about 30% of smokers are clinically depressed and find it very difficult to quit smoking).

Alcohol depletes serotonin, depletes B vitamins (which is why you see pellagra in alcoholic populations), interferes with sleep (sleep deprivation can look like psychosis), etc. Long-term, it destroys the liver, brain, etc.

Convincing folks that flavored cleaning solvent is sexy, cool, and sophisticated is one of the great marketing achievements of all time.

Offering folks safer alternatives isn't so crazy. It's fun to hang out at a bar with friends, but hard to nurse a few beers all night long.

As prohibition proved, we can't really legislate "free will." I drink, but I treat flavored cleaning solvent with the care it deserves.

The devil's in the details, perhaps. As mentioned in the article, there are many benzos, and until you explore their specifics, you can't just assume they're "just like Valium".

As an interesting side note, consider Tito's sextuple-distilled Vodka (Texas small distillery product). The distillations remove all the non-ethanol alcohols, and leave a smooth, no-burn, minimal hang-over drink. It helps not to include poisonous wood and isopropyl alcohols, etc.

But many commenters allude to what may be the real catch: most (?) people drink to have an excuse to act a little or a lot like jerks for a while! If this alternative doesn't provide the excuse, it is missing a (the) major unspoken sales appeal of booze.

As a further side note, 3-carbon alcohol is glycerol (glycerin), which is a sweet, syrupy, approved food additive and sovereign remedy for any and every skin condition, and inflammation, and sore throat, and nasal congestion, and ...

Hi,
There is a pheromone cure for drug addiction and criminal behavior (150 mg of a man's face grease p.o.) , but there is no cure for ethanol abuse.

Great.

I can see many possibilities coming from the "antidote" pill.

Two being:

Before pill: I cannot believe I am taking this girl home.
After Pill: Is she really missing two teeth?

Before pill: I cannot believe I am taking this girl home.
After Pill: Girl: So like, I don't see a meter for the fare?

Do you honestly believe Valium is not addictive? Well you're wrong. If this stuff gives you a buzz that you want to repeat it's addictive too. Besides any alcoholic worth his salt will drink this while you are looking at him and go back to the real stuff the first chance he gets. Addiction is a lot more complicated than a buzz.

How much "serious brainpower" does it take to dilute some Valium in Tonic Water? It seems that is all they're aiming for.

*And*, since when is Valium not addictive? How many celebs have started they're long downward spiral with that bit of poison, eh?

A hangover is our body's way of telling us: "Man, oh man!!! Please don't do that again!!!" Eventually, most of us listen.

"synthetic alcohol pong" doesn't sound nearly as fun as "beer pong"

www.budgetvanlines.net/about-budget-van-lines/

Actually they said that they use a substance with similar chemical properties as valium, not that they use valium, and its well known that slight changes in a chemical's structure can vastly effect how it is treated in the body.

But hey! Valium is addictive they shouldn't use it in drinks! Why do these scientists think that Valium isn't addictive?

There is really a need for a sarcasm font.

How odd, I thought that brewers and wine producers spent years on developing beverages for their taste, if you are unfortunate to have an addictive nature then you will be replacing one drug for another. Work on Cure not Cover! Who is paying these idiots in the first place, go back to doing your stats in the basement, on useless information that no-one is interested in that attempts to justify your ridiculous goverment allocation.

This new substance will need Magic to get approved. I mean, if it also cures cancer or diabetes or the common cold, then the gov't will be able to approve it easily. Does this new substance have any Magic? Other than Tremendous Taxable-ness, of course?
www.promdresspicture.com
I thought not. The gov't cannot approve it any more than they can approve its equivalent: cannabis. (Which they can, but they STILL deny that possibility, and rather than be caught being hypocritical in the bright light of reason, they will find a way to shut this down before it gets too close to that extremely embarrassing point.)

Croyez-vous honnêtement Valium n'est pas une dépendance? Eh bien vous avez tort. Si ce genre de choses vous donne un buzz que vous voulez répéter que c'est trop addictif. D'ailleurs toute la valeur alcoolisées son sel boire ce pendant que vous cherchez à lui et revenir à la vraie substance de la première occasion qu'il reçoit. La dépendance est beaucoup plus compliqué que le buzz

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