Imagine going out with your friends and throwing back several drinks to the point where you're feeling euphoric, dancing without a care and generally letting it all hang out. Nothing too out-of-the-ordinary about that, but let's assume you're unfit to drive. Now imagine taking a pill with water upon hearing the bartender yell out "Last call!" and suddenly feeling sober and able to drive.
As an added bonus, you wake up without the slightest hint of a hangover.
Sounds like pure, unadulterated baloney, right? Read on.
A team of British scientists led by revered drug researcher and Imperial College London Professor David Nutt is on the verge of such an innovation (Telegraph UK). The synthetic alcohol currently under development uses chemicals related to the prescription drug Valium and apparently leaves imbibers with an alcohol-like feeling of wellbeing.
Best of all, it doesn't affect the brain in the negative ways attributed to alcohol, such as mood swings and addiction. But in terms of avoiding a DUI and generally having more self-awareness once the party's over, the experimental substance can be switched off with the aid of an antidote.
Also, according to the article, those who drink the fake booze would stay in that comfort zone before feeling uncomfortably drunk no matter how much they consume -- avoiding blackouts, vomiting, waking up in strange apartments or other ugly effects of having too much to drink.
If you're wondering just what kind of beverages might include the fake booze, the plan is to remove the alcohol from finished drinks and then replace it with the colorless, tasteless alternative (pure alcohol, or ethanol, also is colorless and tasteless).
It's too early in the experimentation stage to estimate when or even if the alcohol replacement will be available, while it may also face regulatory hurdles.
For now there is still plenty of work for Chicago DUI law firms.
- All the pleasures of alcohol, with no downsides (New Scientist)
- Alcohol alternatives -- a goal for psychopharmacology? (Journal of Psychopharmacology)
- Chicago DUI Lawyers (FindLaw)
