DailyDirt: Experimenting With Alcohol

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Fri, Sep 5th 2014 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Freakonomics had an interesting podcast discussing which is more dangerous: alcohol or marijuana? If alcohol didn't exist and was discovered tomorrow, would it be as acceptable as it currently is? It probably would have hard time getting FDA approval, but then the same could be said of Aspirin, if it didn't have its long history as a wonder drug. Here are a few more questions to ponder about alcohol the next time you're not so sober, perhaps.

There are a bunch of supposedly effective ways to reduce drunkenness, but how effective are they really? Jim Koch (founder of Sam Adams beer) swears by a teaspoon of yeast to minimize the effects of alcohol, but a small sample test -- along with some microbiologists' opinions -- suggest that this is an urban legend. So cancel that order of yeast, unless you want to try your own experimental procedure. [url]
As with many medications and drugs, we don't actually know how alcohol induces intoxication. The causes of hangovers are similarly unknown, even though there seem to be no shortage of recommended cures (of dubious effectiveness). [url]
Professor David Nutt has been working on an alternative to alcohol for years, but it's not easy to displace ethanol in our culture (or in our legal regulations). We've mentioned this synthehol-like project before, but more recently, Nutt is appealing to investors to fund his research to develop an alcohol substitute that has an antidote -- which he claims could have a significantly positive impact on human health since it might eliminate drunk driving and other unwanted effects of intoxication. Perhaps a crowdfunding campaign is in order? [url]

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Filed Under: alcohol, david nutt, drinks, drunk, hangover, hangover cure, intoxication, synthehol, synthetic alcohol, yeast

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Mason Wheeler (profile), 5 Sep 2014 @ 5:08pm

Nutt is appealing to investors to fund his research to develop an alcohol substitute that has an antidote -- which he claims could have a significantly positive impact on human health since it might eliminate drunk driving and other unwanted effects of intoxication.

Color me skeptical. I just wonder, how often would someone who deliberately chooses to go out and get drunk want to then take an antidote that turns them stone-cold sober? Yes, theoretically it could eliminate drunk driving if the person wanted to take it, but bear in mind that one of the best-known effects of alcohol intoxication is impaired judgment.
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- John Fenderson (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 3:07pm
  
  Re:
  For my entire adult life, I've dreamed of such a thing. It would be awesome to be able to get totally ripped at a party but be able to turn it off in time to go to bed.
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- Anonymous Coward, 9 Sep 2014 @ 5:03am
  
  Re:
  At most suburban parties I attended during my youth there was coffee out for those who intended to go home at the end (country parties everyone crashed there, even if that meant sleeping in the tray of a ute or a stable or somewhere, in the city centre most attendees were able to stagger home on foot).
  
  If people were willing to trust in such an ineffective antidote (which only has value in that it makes you marginally less likely to be noticed), an actual working antidote seems viable.
  
  Also, if the antidote works fast enough, it might be worth taking when pulled over at a booze bust.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Sep 2014 @ 5:58pm

Jim Koch is a dumbass.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/2020-men-drunk-drinking-25005343
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Mr Big Content, 6 Sep 2014 @ 5:36pm

This Guy Nutt Lives Up Too His Name
Instead of Alcohol, he wants people to take DRUGS instead!? What a loon! Doesnt he know thats against the Law?
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- Anonymous Coward, 9 Sep 2014 @ 4:26am
  
  Re: This Guy Nutt Lives Up Too His Name
  Nutt's always been in favour or controlled and regulated use of drugs. The reason he was fired from his position as a governmental advisor is that he wanted to relax classifications on drugs, specifically Ecstacy, due to his life long research proving the non-detrimental effects of taking the drug safely.
  
  FYI, taking *drugs* is not against the law.
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