Would you like to spend the night drinking and not have to worry about the hangover the next morning? How about not even worrying about driving home? Just pop a pill to sober up and drive home.
If a scientist has his way, the sober pill will work hand in hand with a new synthetic alcohol being developed from chemicals related to Valium. It works like alcohol on nerves in the brain that provide that feeling of relaxation… but unlike alcohol, its does not affect other parts of the brain that control mood swings and lead to addiction. Star Trek fans may know this as synthehol.
London’s Telegraph reports on Professor David Nutt, Britain’s top drugs expert who was recently sacked as a government adviser for his comments about cannabis and ecstasy. He envisions a world in which people could drink without getting drunk.
Nutt and his team are concentrating their efforts on benzodiazepines used in Valium. “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. Sounds good… now the college professors can hang with the student body the night before the big exam.
His ultimate goal is to replace the alcohol in your favorite beer (or wine, or spirit) with his synthehol so you can inbibe without actually getting drunk… a safe drive home is just a sober pill away.
Synthohol indeed… this will be for people that don’t appreciate brewing beer, distilling alcohol or, um, whatever you do with wine.