New drug has alcohol effect 'without the hangover'

Scientists are creating drugs that can help drinkers enjoy all the pleasures of alcohol - with no downsides.

They believe it's possible to develop an alcohol substitute which selectively blocks the undesirable effects while leaving the good ones alone.

Alcohol exerts its effects on the brain mainly by latching onto signalling molecules called GABA-A receptors.

Psychopharmacologist David Nutt said: "We know what alcohol does. Why not just make better drugs?"

Harm reduction has a decent track record with other dangerous drugs such as heroin and nicotine so Dr Nutt believes the same can be done for alcohol, reports New Scientist.

The trick is to make a mixture of molecules that deliver the beneficial effects - such as relaxation and sociability - without the the aggression, nausea and loss of co-ordination that can cause drinkers and their victims so much grief.

Neuropsychopharmacologist Harry June at the University of Maryland in the US has tested a compound in rats that prevents alcohol making them clumsy and drowsy.

Dr Nutt, of Bristol University, is has also had promising results testing blockers that preserve memory after a drinking session.

He is principally interested in coming up with an alcohol substitute that does not cause chronic damage to he heart, liver and brain - and believes the key is held in anti-anxiety drugs called benzodiazepines.

Dr June's researchers have found and patented two compounds that seem to be able to mimic some of the good effects of alcohol - such as euphoria and relaxation - in rats and baboons.

But it's unlikely people who like to unwind after a day in the office would want to pop a pill.

Dr Nutt says drinkers could learn to re-educate their palates to appreciate substitutes too - as long as they provide the same pleasure.

But Dr Richard Olsen and colleagues at California University have even been developing magical sobering-up pills. The potent antidote to alcohol has got drunk rats up and running in minutes by dislodging ethanol from the brain.

It is widely believed ethanol - booze's active ingredient - is a general inhibitor of brain activity.

The government is taking the idea of safer alcohol seriously by asking the Academy of Medical Sciences to look into the issue and make recommendations.

But Ames Sweet, of the US National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence in New York, said: "People are always trying to find a way to get drunk without the consequences. It's a misguided illusion."

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