Professor Nutt is developing a healthy alcohol

Ex Government drugs tsar Professor David Nutt is working on the development of a type of booze without the health risks associated with alcohol. It is said to mimic the effects of alcohol but without the hangover or liver damage.

Nutt says that tests on volunteers are underway, and with government backing, the synthetic alcohol could be available in three to five years. There is even an antidote that could reverse the effects of the ‘safe booze’, allowing users to drive home after taking it.

As good as this may sound, the former chairman of the independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs fears that the product may be hard to sell. Governments could classify it as a drug, and alcohol manufacturers might protest.

Three more drugs experts quit

David Nutt was sacked last week over views he expressed in an academic journal in January and a lecture he later gave at King's College London. He argued that Ecstasy and LSD are less harmful than alcohol and cigarettes, and criticised the Government's decision to upgrade the legal classification of cannabis from C to B.

In response to his sacking, three more scientists have resigned from the UK drug advisory body. Two other members of the body resigned earlier this week. Liberal Democrat science spokesman Dr. Evan Harris told the BBC that the recent resignations demonstrate that Home secretary Johnson (who is responsible for the sacking of Nutt) "doesn't get it" when it comes to respecting the academic freedom of independent, unpaid, science advisors.

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Comments

Sponge - 2009-11-17 13:00:04

-2

On topic, the alcohol companies are going to have a fit and I doubt I'll be drinking this stuff unless it turns out not to be entirely sinthetic and just a bunch of chemicals and other crap...

How bout we just drink in moderation? :)

FoM - 2009-11-19 12:53:23

hey everyone,
I like the idea about the antidote... this would be just great for drivers!
Peace,
F

Realist - 2009-11-20 13:22:45

Hey Sponge you might want to consider that your safe "natural" alcohol is a multi-action solvent which is toxic to every cell in the human body and produced by a fungus starved of oxygen.
Personally I'd swallow any demonstrated safe synthetic substance which acted on the same desirable neuro-receptors as alcohol, but lacked the toxicity, anyday!!!

Synthetic THC (and I mean THC, not other chemicals) or natural THC, sythetic ethanol or natural ethanol - what's the difference?
ANSWER: none!
Strychnine, Arsenic, Mercury, Uranium etc...etc...are found naturally, but are they safe because they are natural?
I don't think so.
You should get my point by now.

Neuromancer - 2009-11-24 01:39:44

I agree with last commenter. Which make plants especially interesting is the long, complex and beautiful story they share with humankind, full of lessons we are only beginning to understand. But mother nature can be a harsh teacher, and human ingenuity is a treasure too. The most potent poisons in the world are 100% natural, and "chemicals" once saved my mother's live. No need to be so manichean :)