Movie stars get hung up on KGB's anti-hangover drug

Guardian Unlimited ^ | September 23, 2003 | Nick Paton Walsh

[Pan_Yans Wife]

A drug created by the former KGB to keep its agents sober so that they could drink opponents under the table before stealing their secrets is being sold on the internet to Hollywood stars as a defence against hangovers.

The drug, known as RU-21, is made in Russia and sold as a natural remedy on the internet. Hollywood actors are said to be fond of the fix, called after the American legal drinking age, which enables them to make the most of LA's party circuit without red eyes or pounding headaches detracting from their delivering the goods on the film set next morning.

Its makers claim that it stops the body making an enzyme which turns alcohol into acetaldehyde, a toxic chemical which can damage tissues.

The pill lets you get drunk, but indefinitely delays the hangover and damage to the body's organs.

A little less convenient, the makers say that you have to take two pills before or during every two drinks - a suspicious activity in trendy watering holes.

The KGB invented the drug just after the second world war.

The secrets of the pill were declassified in 1999, and it was developed into a market commodity by scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences as part of an extended study of alcohol's effects on the body. Its makers and Californian marketeers say it is selling to the tune of $10,000 (£6,000) a week.

"Russians can out-drink anybody in the world anyway," said Emil Chiaberi, head of Spirit Sciences, which sells the pill in the US.

"I don't know why they needed a pill."

[Imal]

Uh oh, we better outlaw this drug quickly.

Because, um, it's a drug. Yeah, that's it!

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Its makers claim that it stops the body making an enzyme which turns alcohol into acetaldehyde, a toxic chemical which can damage tissues.

This sounds like it has positive benefits.

[DainBramage]

Ted Kennedy would need a Pez despenser.

[InvisibleChurch]

wait until it starts to rot out their internal organs... yeah, like i'd buy russian cr@p over the internet ... sounds like darwin in motion

[alloysteel]

Sure, this might work on alcohol, but how about cocaine? Or even meth? How about the relatively innocuous caffeine and nicotine?

Lots of work to be done if the effects of intoxication are to be mitigated in Hollyweird. And no known drug would overcome the intoxication that comes with money and influence.

[metesky]

Plenty of vitamin B-12 before bed will stop a hangover in it's tracks.

If you're able to find the med cabinet...

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Doesn't drinking water help a great deal, too?

[metesky]

"Who put water in my water glass?" - W.C. Fields

[17th Miss Regt]

This may work for alcohol but will not affect the increase in head size that often accompanies money and fame. There is no way to hide that effect.

[Hostage]

I agree. I asked a dear friend who is an alcoholic and cannot quit (although he has tried so often) to try RU-21 to see if it will decrease the bloat and swelling around his liver and also add back some muscle mass. I hope for his sake that it does.

[Puppage]

"Who stole the cork to my lunch"? WC Fields

[mtbopfuyn]

Hollyweirds have to have a trendy pill to further their dreamstate rather than reality.

[varon]

Ted Kennedy would need a Pez despenser.

Teddy needs it liquid form for an IV drip ;-)

[mattdono]

I don't want to have too serious a take on this, but isn't this just another example of how Hollyweird avoids consequence? Rules that apply to us regular folks don't apply to them. I don't know how much this costs, but this seems more like a luxury item that most of us can't/wouldn't want to afford.

It seems to me that a hangover (if you have had a really, REALLY bad one) can be a helluva deterrent. If you can avoid this, won't you just do it more?

[Pan_Yans Wife]

If you can avoid this, won't you just do it more?

Common sense is often the best solution.

When I read about this drug, I stopped for a moment and tried to remember the last time I suffered through the symptoms of a hangover. That would be about ten years ago, while in college. I rarely drink, today... so I would have no need for this type of remedy.

I wonder if it is a positive or a negative when, after a night out on the town you say that you took, "the fix"? Because aren't you admitting you were drunk? Is being drunk a positive attribute?

Being a moderate and occasional drinker, I don't know.

[Aracelis]

Ping!

[Mackey]

I used to take lots of B-complex, C and E vitamins before a night of drinking, along with a standard dose of 60 mg of psuedoephedrine. I'd take an additional 30-mg tablet about every 2 hours, and that would keep me more alert during the evening (very useful when playing poker). I'd take more vitamins just before going to bed. I was able to avoid most of the hangover effects, even after a pint of whiskey and a dozen beer chasers.

Since then I've become older and wiser, and will only have a few beers.

[mattdono]

I'm in a similar boat (no drinking), but for different reasons.

Is being drunk a positive attribute?

Well, maybe it is just "being a man" to accept the hangover, have a headache for the next day, and use the hangover to try all kinds of good hangover remedies. For instance, my mom is an advocate of the cheeseburger (like a good one, firegrilled...not some fast food crap). Mine was have a Bloody Mary to ease the effects of the hangover. Of course, this was really nothing more than a transition to another afternoon/night of drinking.

Those days are gone and, actually, not missed at all.

[PeterPrinciple]

It seems to me that a hangover (if you have had a really, REALLY bad one) can be a helluva deterrent.

I think my mother prayed hangovers on me when I was a kid....it worked.