http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7768141.stm "Dr Olivier Ameisen, 55, one of France's top heart specialists, says he overcame his own addiction to alcohol by self-administering doses of a muscle-relaxant called baclofen. He has now written a book about his experience - Le Dernier Verre (The Last Glass) - in which he calls for clinical trials to test his theory that baclofen suppresses the craving for drink. Widespread media coverage of his book in France has led to a rush of demands from alcoholics for similar treatment, and some doctors have reported unexpected successes after prescribing it."
The studies done back in the 60's showed that a single dose of LSD could cure alcoholism 60% of the time. That's a much higher success rate than the AA programs have. But LSD is a Schedule I drug, with "no legitimate medical applications". Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! This guy's method is getting press because the drug he used can be prescribed, which means pharma can make money off it. In the end it'll probably have a success rate of less than 20%, yet it'll be prescribed and hailed as an "effective tool in combating alcoholism". Yes, I'm bitter about current drug laws. More and more people are coming around though, so there's hope yet.
Would be great to revisit the issue and confirm the results, but LSD research gets blocked by the FDA and DEA whenever possible. Nevertheless there were real studies done back then that showed results like the ones I mentioned. http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/lsd-treatment-for-alcoholism-gets-new-look-11680.html
So you replace one addiction with another that isn't a cure to me. Once an alcoholic,always an alcoholic. There's no way to stop being an alcoholic because once you are one you can never stop the urge to drink.
Even if it is true, in that case we just substituted one abused substance by another... By the way it is very easy to study: What is the % of BOTH LSD users and alcoholics?? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
VIVITROL, is the only FDA approved monthly injection for Alcohol addicts. On 1Aug08 it was approved for sale in Russia (historically judging, there are many who need it there) Although developed and made by Alkermers, in the U.S. VIVITROL is commercialized primarily by Cephalon. Visit Alkermers' site at: www.alkermes.com to learn more. It is a quite promissing cure for most. I own shairs in Alkermers but not very many. Later by edit: The above was copied from my files. (Have one on almost all the 40 or so early stage drug developer companies I own.) I checked my link and was pleased to find: " Dec 01, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) today announced that it has regained from Cephalon, Inc. full commercialization rights to VIVITROL(R) (naltrexone for extended-release injectable suspension) in the U.S. following a portfolio review by Cephalon. The collaboration between the two companies will terminate effective December 1, 2008. VIVITROL, the first and only long-acting injectable medication commercially available for the treatment of alcohol dependence, is also being developed by Alkermes as a potential treatment for opioid dependence." I already knew VIVITROL was also in clinical test for opium / morphine etc type drug abuse.
What makes you think any of them go on to abuse LSD? For that matter, what makes you think LSD can be abused? It's not addictive, it's not even habit forming any more than any other substance is. Sure you can become dependent on it, no more than you can become dependent on sugar, caffeine or just about anything else. I've yet to meet someone who uses it more than once or twice a month tops, because every time is such a mind job that you don't even want to do it again right away. You'd have to work really hard to abuse this stuff. There was a legitimate use for LSD and psilocybin in psychotherapy for all kinds of disorders and problems before they were made illegal. The explanation offered by the researchers back then was that LSD allowed alcoholics to step outside of their lives and see what their habit was really doing to them. After this many of them chose to kick the habit on their own. It wasn't a cure so much as a kick in the ass and a wake up call that pushed them to quit alcohol themselves.
I don't know about LSD, but I believe several studies have shown that people who go into AA actually have less success giving up drinking than people who simply resolve to quit on their own. Apparently AA teaches people that they have a disease and are powerless against alcohol, which actually encourages recidivism. Not saying that LSD couldn't work, but it's not too impressive to say that it's better than AA since virtually anything is apparently better than AA.
I've seen that too. South Park did an episode about it called Bloody Mary that was dead on. According to wikipedia AA's success rate is about 10%. It's not impressive to say LSD's is better, but I'd say it's impressive that it's 6x better. I doubt the success rate of quitting alcohol with no help is more than that.
Syzygys Actually this reminded me of something, the drug naloxin (narcan) which is the treatment for a heroin overdose has been shown to be effective in the treatment of ALL adictions because it blocks the "high" the person gets out of the adictive behavor
AA meetings don't work because most people are forced to go to them. And you can't really force someone to change their ways, they have to want to change. My grandfather used to show up drunk to his AA meetings. Again like many of the people there he had to go because of a court order. Many people go because of this or their friends forced them to go, but if you don't want to change your life no one can make you. That's why people do better on their own if they personally decide they want to quit and it means something to them. They'll always be alcoholics though.
Even if they don't, it doesn't seem to be a good choice for cure. If I am a cabdriver, do I want to cure my drinking with LSD?
I think you're misunderstanding what's going on here. You don't take LSD instead of drinking, you take LSD once and it might make you want to quit drinking. One of the big obstacles is that a lot of alcoholics don't see that they have a problem, and don't see what damage that problem is causing to their life. LSD can show them their situation from the perspective of someone else looking in, and the intensity of this experience can be enough to convince them to quit on their own. Like everyone says, the first step to overcoming an addiction is to admit you have a problem. LSD just shows you the problem, undeniably. That's how I'd imagine it is anyway, based on my past experiences with psilocybin.
Do you have link or more information on it? See my post 9 for FDA and Russian approved drug now on the market at least in those to countires (some in EU I think also) That drug has chemical name similar to one you mention. I especially want to know if your mentioned drug is approved for that use anywhere - or only some vague indications that it may work exist.
no sorry i dont, it was only some really early studies i happened to hear about on a radio program 6 months or so ago. From what i rember narloxin wont be the actual drug used if this goes to clinical trials because its a very fast acting very short term drug. There is another drug out (which i cant rember the name of) which has the similar effect of blocking the morphine receptors but the drug is persistant. The actual resurch was on a nicotine vacine but if i rember right a side effect was found. It cured gabling adictions. If it works on gabling adictions it will work on ANY adiction Prevously the only treatment for acholisium was a drug which caused a direct reaction with achole, ie it basically gave all the symptoms of a hang over after one sip of achole. The idea was to use pavlovian association to cure it. Of coure humans are smarter than that, we know dam well that as soon as we stop x treatment y will happen. if this wasnt the case there would be no need for a placibo, a drug could just be adminstered or not adminstered. Anyway yes it could be what your refering to and the trialing could have been further along than i rember, the fact that it said it could be a treatment for opiod abuse as well suggest that it is the morphine blocking type drugs rather than the achole tolerance type
