THE hangovers and aphorisms brought on by alcohol could soon be a
thing of the past if a new drug from America lives up to the froth of
publicity surrounding its discovery.
Gone will be the morning after when your skull feels as if it is
hosting a rodeo. Gone too will be the aphoristic days when Bertie
Wooster doesn't have the heart to touch his breakfast -- ''I told Jeeves
to drink it himself.''
Early in the morning, everyone will know what to do with a drunken
sailor.
Gone too, sadly, will be those heady days when Humphrey Bogart, when
asked, ''Were you drunk at 4am?'' replied, ''Isn't everybody?''
Instead, Mr Bogart would have had to have answered: ''Yes, I forgot to
take my Detoxahol,'' which doesn't quite have the same resonance.
Detoxahol has been developed by American scientists and can, it is
claimed, sober you up in minutes. It is said to be able to remove the
effects of alcohol even after several hours of heavy drinking -- and its
makers hope to sell it in bars without a prescription.
Compumed Inc., of Manhattan Beach, California, claims it speeds up the
way blood rids itself of alcohol by working on the small intestine.
Detoxahol has so far only been tested on animals and it would have to
pass Government vetting before it was allowed on the market.
The British Medical Association said the Medicines Control Agency
would have to see ''what the side-effects are and it would have to stand
up to scrutiny''.
A Department of Health spokesman said: ''Frankly, we are talking about
something which has not been produced yet. And it would have to be
rigorously tested before it was allowed on the market.''
It takes at least an hour for the effects of half a pint of beer to
wear off and eight hours to get over four pints.
The makers claim the drug speeds up this process and helps the liver
to recover after a drinking bout.
We'll raise a glass to that.
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