From the UK— new drug for "mild alcoholics"

[Robert_Pollard-Smith]

In the Telegraph…

Hundreds of thousands of people drinking half a bottle of wine a night are to be put on the first ever drug to help reduce alcohol consumption, under plans announced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Men drinking three pints of beer and women drinking two large glasses of wine per night and who do not cut down within two weeks should be prescribed a new drug, Nice has said.

There are an estimated 750,000 people in the UK who would be eligible for nalmefene > who show no overt symptoms associated with their drinking.

I guess those folks are just not going to be sharing their consumption patterns with their physicians anymore.

[Daniel_H]

Common side effects reported for the drug include nausea (18%), vomiting (9%), tachycardia (5%), and hypertension (5%). It sounds like a really excellent idea to start prescribing this to every person who has 2 or more glasses of wine a day, doesn’t it? Especially since the impact of the drug (measured by decreased alcohol consumption) is rather negligible compared to counseling alone.

[Ian_Sutton]

@Daniel H

Common side effects reported for the drug include nausea (18%), vomiting (9%), tachycardia (5%), and hypertension (5%). It sounds like a really excellent idea to start prescribing this to every person who has 2 or more glasses of wine a day, doesn’t it? Especially since the impact of the drug (measured by decreased alcohol consumption) is rather negligible compared to counseling alone.

Yes, you’ll need a ‘hair of the dog’ just to get over the side effects