An Injection to Cure Holiday Drinking?
Title: An Injection to Cure Holiday Drinking?
Author: Jeffrey Kluger
Website: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1867668,00.html
Keaton Mohney
Period 3
December 22, 2008
Before reading this article, I knew that a lot of people over drink during the holidays. I was shocked at the percentage of deaths over the holidays due to alcohol is 40% ! I think that that is way to big of a percentage. We should try to reduce that this Christmas. I also knew that a leading cause in these accidents is because of one main decision. When people choose to get behind a wheel after they have had one to many drinks is a really stupid thing to do. Yes, you might not wreck. You might wreck and not get killed. You might wreck and kill people in both vehicles. Or, the worst is when you wreck and you don’t die, but the person/people in the other car do. That would be on your conscience for the rest of your life. I think that scientists purposely researched this injection to stop over drinking and save lives this Christmas. One researcher was David Rosenbloom who is a substance abuse specialist at the Boston School of Public Health and director of the addiction prevention and policy group. He and many other scientists studied this new drug called naltrexone to prove its authenticity.
From the research and experimentation, researchers learned that this drug can alter your brain and make you curb the want to drink. And it even has a backup plan, if you give into the craving, it still allows you to shrink the amount consumed so you will not get to a drunken state. The main conclusion they can make from the research is to basically end deaths during holiday seasons by eliminating drunk drivers. My opinion on this is very strong. I totally agree with this new shot to prevent over drinking. People are so stupid when they have to much to drink and I think that this drug is a way to ensure safety for travelers this Christmas. The people who drink are not the only ones who are in danger of getting hurt when they get in a vehicle. Families who don’t even drink and have little sons and daughter in the backseat quietly sleeping after a long night of unwrapping presents are also in danger because of someone else’s reckless decision.
The only thing I would like to know after reading this article is the follow up on this drug. If it gets put out on the market, I would like to know in a couple of months if it was effective enough to get people to limit consumption of alcohol. I would like to find out if the death tolls during the holiday went down due to this drug. I think this injection should be further tested and tried so that the value of it is proven so we can reduce the amount of deaths before it is too late.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:21 am
How were the tests done to prove the value of this drug? If this drug does go on the market, do you think that offenders will bother to purchase and take the drug? What about using the drug as a prevention control all year long?
January 19th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Keaton, I really liked your article and stand by you on your opinion of drunk driving. It is useless. One question I have is can this new drug be abused? It is supposed to be used to prevent consuming too much alcohol; however people have been abusing every kind of substance so how harmful could this potentially be. It was a really good article.
January 19th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Thank you Mrs. Wolfgang for reading my article. To tell you the truth I am not sure how the tests were done to prove the value of this drug. The article only said that it was tested. I think that offenders will take the drug if they have any self conviction or if concerned family members make them take it. And I think that if they used this drug all year long then it would deffinitaly be a good way to prevent hazards all year long.
January 19th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Thank you samanthanicolew for reading my article. I think like any drug, this drug could probably be abused if there is no chaperoning when taking it. If someone has a serious enough problem to be using this drug frequently, they should be monitored by a relative or someone close so that they don’t overdose. Thanks again I hope this answered your question.
January 20th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Keaton, I think you did a good job on this article. I think drunk driving is really pointless because if you wreck, no body wins. I think you researched this article very well. But I would like to know more about this drug. Are there any side effects to taking it, risk factors? Very nice job though!
January 21st, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Thank you for reading my article cassieac. I also agree with you on drunk driving being pointless and the lose-lose situation that people who chose to drink are in when they end up in a colision. I don’t think that there is any side effects on taking this drug besides making you stay away from alchohol but that doesn’t count because that is the point of the drug. Of course like any drug, I’m sure that it would not be safe to overdose. Other than overdosing, there is virtually no other risk factors involved. I think that if a person taking the drug is not mentally stable, someone should moitor that persons intake so that they do not consume an unsafe amount of this product. That is the only risk factor that I think is associated with this drug. Thanks again. I hope I answered your question.
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Keaton, you did a great job on your article. It was very well written and you can tell you put some time and effort into it. I also agree with you that many people will want this because they will be able to drink and then drive. You are also correct that both cases are a lose-lose situtation. My questions are the same as yours, when will it come out onto the market and how much it will cost. I also am on cassie’s side about the risk factors and how they work. Again very nice job.