Stop smoking and stop drinking with one little pill!  That is the message we may hear in the near future from the makers of Chantix.  The pill that is already on the market to help smokers stop lighting up may have promise to stop alcoholics from picking up.  Chantix or Varenicline has the jump on nicotine patches and gum because it actually blocks nicotine from activating the nicotine receptors in the brain.  If they are not activated when you smoke then you don’t get that reinforcing pleasure sensation from the behavior.  That is supposed to reduce your craving for nicotine but I am sure there are some hardcore smokers that light up anyway.A recent news release tells us that there are some researchers in California got some rats dependent on alcohol by having them binge drink 37 times thus creating a craving for alcohol.  When these partying rats were given chantix they actually cut their drinking amount in half.  The plan is to start human studies and see if this may be another weapon in the anti-craving arsenal.  The good news is Chantix is already an approved FDA medication.http://www.news-medical.net/?id=27317

A recent NIAAA article discusses the average age of onset of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency and the time it takes for these people to seek treatment. It is shocking that there is an average of eight years before a dependent alcoholic can see the necessity of getting treatment for their disease. If I were rushed to the ER because of high blood sugar I would expect a clear diagnosis of diabetes, stabilization, medication, and intensive education for my disease. Why doesn’t the first alcoholic blackout produce the same urgency for the person and their family?
http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa56.htm

What is the connection between celebrity and stupidity when it comes to alcohol?
The recent Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, and the Nicole Ritchie news explosion covering their bad decisions dealing with cars and alcohol are getting old and predictable. I know that young people have an under formed frontal cortex before the age of twenty-five but these women have agents and assistants that are highly paid to help them think. Even the application of a foolproof alcohol monitoring ankle bracelet did not have any sway over Lohan’s choice to drink/drug and drive dangerously only a few days post rehab. This is proof that the brain can definitely have a disconnect between the frontal cortex (or decision making brain) and the pleasure seeking/behavioral area of the brain. Just like the sensation you get when the doctor hits your knee with a hammer, you see it respond with movement but your brain never got a vote on what the response would be. So if alcohol abuse and dependency worsens the disconnect why would we expect anything but behavior that qualifies as stupid.