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In the grim far future, instead of an interlock device on your car after a DWI, how about some gene therapy to vaccinate against alcoholism via alcohol dehydrog

In the grim far future, instead of an interlock device on your car after a DWI, how about some gene therapy to vaccinate against alcoholism via alcohol dehydrogenase?

torgian 5y ago
Man, that sounds like a crappy future for alcohol.
- ultrarunner 5y ago
  Broke: forced sterilization Woke: forced gene therapy to disincentivize undesirable behavior. (I note that another article on the front page is entitled "The most precious resource is agency", though I haven' gotten to it quite yet).
- fy20 5y ago
  It'll just push the alcohol industry to invent synthehol.
  - Gibbon1 5y ago
    I saw a post by a guy getting his masters in chemistry who mentioned two or three drugs that each mimicked part of the effects of alcohol. Week later he took the post down.
    - corin_ 5y ago
      There are plenty of well known drugs, some illegal without a prescription some illegal entirely, which mimic parts of alcohol's effects. For example GHB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Hydroxybutyric_acid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Hydroxybutyric_acid There are also attempts to specifically create drugs that will be identical to alcohol but without the negatives. Whether that will ever come to fruition, and be legal, I don't know. For example https://www.menshealth.com/uk/nutrition/a30117412/alcohol-hangover-alcarelle/ https://www.menshealth.com/uk/nutrition/a30117412/alcohol-ha...
      - bserge 5y ago
        GHB huh, yeah just try Gabapentin, start with 1.2 grams and adjust as needed. The effects take an hour or so to start showing, but they're pretty much the good effects of alcohol (relaxation, disinhibition, feeling good, sociable) with few of the bad ones (somewhat stupefying and the hangover). Tolerance builds up fast, a couple of weeks at most for daily use, then you have to taper down or risk dealing with terrifying withdrawals (insomnia, vivid nightmares, anxiety), which are (somewhat ironically) diminished/eliminated by using alcohol.
        corin_ 5y ago
        Just to be clear, I wasn't recommending GHB as something people should try over alcohol :) It was just the first drug name that came to mind that has some similar effects and that's quite popular as a recreational drug. Gabapentin I don't think is nearly as popular, though a couple of years ago I was told that it had become a hugely popular drug in UK prisons for some reason.
        bserge 5y ago
        Eh, why not? Anything's better than alcohol. Gabapentin is probably popular because it's like alcohol without the negative effects and it's non-addictive. It works as an antidepressant even though not accepted by the healthscam industry.
      - GordonS 5y ago
        IIRC, former UK drug-advisor, David Nutt (famed for his common sense approach that was at logger-heads with the UK govs political approach) was working on some kind of synthenol, which was rumoured to be based on GHB, and have an "antidote" so you could remove the effects.
        corin_ 5y ago
        He's the guy interviewed in my second link :) Very interesting person indeed, though I've met two unrelated people who've worked with him and both had great things to say about his science, not so great things to say about his personality / ego / way of working. But I hope he succeeds in his mission, and I'm already grateful for his speaking truth to power back when he got fired by the government for telling people the actual facts about how dangerous different drugs are.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]

In the grim far future, instead of an interlock device on your car after a DWI, how about some gene therapy to vaccinate against alcoholism via alcohol dehydrogenase?

torgian 5y ago

Man, that sounds like a crappy future for alcohol.

ultrarunner 5y ago
Broke: forced sterilization Woke: forced gene therapy to disincentivize undesirable behavior. (I note that another article on the front page is entitled "The most precious resource is agency", though I haven' gotten to it quite yet).
fy20 5y ago
It'll just push the alcohol industry to invent synthehol.
- Gibbon1 5y ago
  I saw a post by a guy getting his masters in chemistry who mentioned two or three drugs that each mimicked part of the effects of alcohol. Week later he took the post down.
  - corin_ 5y ago
    There are plenty of well known drugs, some illegal without a prescription some illegal entirely, which mimic parts of alcohol's effects. For example GHB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Hydroxybutyric_acid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Hydroxybutyric_acid There are also attempts to specifically create drugs that will be identical to alcohol but without the negatives. Whether that will ever come to fruition, and be legal, I don't know. For example https://www.menshealth.com/uk/nutrition/a30117412/alcohol-hangover-alcarelle/ https://www.menshealth.com/uk/nutrition/a30117412/alcohol-ha...
    - bserge 5y ago
      GHB huh, yeah just try Gabapentin, start with 1.2 grams and adjust as needed. The effects take an hour or so to start showing, but they're pretty much the good effects of alcohol (relaxation, disinhibition, feeling good, sociable) with few of the bad ones (somewhat stupefying and the hangover). Tolerance builds up fast, a couple of weeks at most for daily use, then you have to taper down or risk dealing with terrifying withdrawals (insomnia, vivid nightmares, anxiety), which are (somewhat ironically) diminished/eliminated by using alcohol.
      - corin_ 5y ago
        Just to be clear, I wasn't recommending GHB as something people should try over alcohol :) It was just the first drug name that came to mind that has some similar effects and that's quite popular as a recreational drug. Gabapentin I don't think is nearly as popular, though a couple of years ago I was told that it had become a hugely popular drug in UK prisons for some reason.
        bserge 5y ago
        Eh, why not? Anything's better than alcohol. Gabapentin is probably popular because it's like alcohol without the negative effects and it's non-addictive. It works as an antidepressant even though not accepted by the healthscam industry.
    - GordonS 5y ago
      IIRC, former UK drug-advisor, David Nutt (famed for his common sense approach that was at logger-heads with the UK govs political approach) was working on some kind of synthenol, which was rumoured to be based on GHB, and have an "antidote" so you could remove the effects.
      - corin_ 5y ago
        He's the guy interviewed in my second link :) Very interesting person indeed, though I've met two unrelated people who've worked with him and both had great things to say about his science, not so great things to say about his personality / ego / way of working. But I hope he succeeds in his mission, and I'm already grateful for his speaking truth to power back when he got fired by the government for telling people the actual facts about how dangerous different drugs are.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]