Real-World Synthehol In Development

Ada_Rules writes "Researchers at the Imperial College London have announced development of an alcohol substitute that has many of the same properties as the Synthehol from the series Star Trek, in that one will get a buzz from it but will not end up with a hangover. In addition you will have the option of getting immediately sober if you so desire it. Let's hope this is not the typical vaporware. It is not that I really want a drink of Synthehol, but with its release I assume Romulan Ale won't be far behind."

Comments

Better Profit Through Pharmaceuticals

[handy_vandal]

"Prof Nutt and his team are concentrating their efforts on benzodiazepines, of which diazepam, the chief ingredient of Valium is one."

In other words, let's invent another Happy Pill that will make big profit for Big Pharmco. And we'll call it an "alcohol substitute" because alcohol is well-known as the active ingredient in alcoholism, and you're in favor of a cure for alcoholism, right?

Good thing they're not calling it a "Valium analog", what with Valium's well-known and deserved reputation for causing addiction, tolerance, and withdrawal.

Toxicity

[hwyhobo]

If it is ingested orally, then it will be metabolized in the liver. What about its toxicity? If it's the same or higher than alcohol, then the illusion of safety may in the end be detrimental to the health of the user.

Re:Not really

[Anonymous Coward]

And this is the "we can just turn it off" part:

“I’ve been in experiments where I’ve taken benzos,” said Professor Nutt. “One minute I was sedated and nearly asleep, five minutes later I was giving a lecture.

I think we've seen this show before. It was called the 1950's and 60's.

Can't sleep? Take a pill to sleep. Trouble waking up? Take a pill to wake up. Now you're really awake and agitated and jittery? Take a pill to calm you down.

Be sure to wash those pills down with a nice distilled beverage of your choice and don't forget have a refreshing smoke.

Re:Missing the point...

[popo]

Was that completely depressing for anyone else?

The Puritans won't like this.

[plopez]

Or the Catholics. If you're going to have fun, the punishment must be built-in.

I'm not alone

[7-Vodka]

You know the first thing I'm gonna fucking do, is mix this shit in my rum and cokes while chewing some nicotine gum and smoking a fat joint.
And I know I'm not the only one.

What for?

[bistromath007]

To avoid a hangover with the real stuff, just stay hydrated. Not difficult.

Re:Headache?

[19thNervousBreakdown]

As someone who's drank practically every type of ethanol under the sun, from Busch beer to Johnny Walker Blue to fortified "wine" to home-brewed mead to gluten-free beer to Cristal to Everclear, in every combination imaginable, getting blackout drunk on nothing but neat Jim Beams all night or Guinness or a different drink every time, who's tried every hangover cure, multivitamins, aspirin, Vicodin, hair of the dog, bacon and eggs, a gallon of water before bed, drinking a large glass of water between every alcoholic beverage, you name it, I can say with the utmost confidence that the "impurities" have fuck-all effect on your hangover.

Try evaporating all the alcohol out of the worst possible plastic-bottle booze, and drink the remains all the way down. You won't feel a thing. Now go raise your BAC to 0.25% with 100% pure lab-grade ethanol, drink a bottle of water between every serving, take a four Tylenol before bed, and tell me how you feel in the morning.

You get hung over because you drank poison. The perfect hangover cure is morphine. Thread over.