Inhalable alcohol is a very bad idea
Someone finally got around to inventing a better way to ingest alcohol - inhalation. I am usually quite fond of new inventions, but this one is a catastrophically bad idea. I give it two to three years max before it's banned.
The main concern here is that alcohol is an incredibly addicting substance. The fact that it takes quite a bit of time to get to our heads (due to ingestion through the stomach) is actually a good thing as the addictiveness is in effect reduced. By enabling an instantenous alcohol high there is a serious danger of widespread alcohol addiction.
I am against drug prohibition of any kind. Education is always superior to an outright ban. There is however a real danger here and in an absence of proper drug education (let's be real - this will not happen anytime soon) a ban on inhalable alcohol of any kind needs to take effect immediately.
References:
1. Vaporize Me - Amanda Schaffer
http://slate.msn.com/id/2106393/
2. Website for the AWOL alcohol vaporizer
http://www.awolmachine.com/
The main concern here is that alcohol is an incredibly addicting substance. The fact that it takes quite a bit of time to get to our heads (due to ingestion through the stomach) is actually a good thing as the addictiveness is in effect reduced. By enabling an instantenous alcohol high there is a serious danger of widespread alcohol addiction.
I am against drug prohibition of any kind. Education is always superior to an outright ban. There is however a real danger here and in an absence of proper drug education (let's be real - this will not happen anytime soon) a ban on inhalable alcohol of any kind needs to take effect immediately.
References:
1. Vaporize Me - Amanda Schaffer
http://slate.msn.com/id/2106393/
2. Website for the AWOL alcohol vaporizer
http://www.awolmachine.com/
posted by z @ 6:56 PM
3 Comments:
At 1:46 AM,
Ozzy said…
whats up z-man? i read your blog at the beginning, but kinda forgot to come back up til i read a link on nellie's blog about Burning Man, which made me think of you :P you should check it out, very insightful.
btw, i've seen this machine before. besides being prohibitively expensive, it's not instantaneous and you get a pretty low dose of alcohol over a fairly lengthy period of time. personally, i think this thing will kill itself. either that, or someone will modify one and die and his/her family will bankrupt the company in a lawsuit, since they will have sold maybe a dozen of these things. ;)
At 11:15 AM,
nell said…
Ozzy, didn't we have a discussion about this thing a while ago? For once we agreed about something! I can't formulate the words to express how wrong I think this idea is - yes, you can call me a prude when it comes to new ways to ingest drugs (I wasn't too fond of vaporizers, either, but I've got the personal experience to back that up, ugh!). I also find it hard to believe they are claiming it is low-carb and hangover-free (as I see the article you've linked to their explains much better than I ever could) and come on! "Inhaled drugs absorbed from the lungs are carried in pulmonary veins directly to the left side of the heart and, from there, rapidly to the brain and the systemic circulation" (Julien, R.M., 2001. A primer of drug action: A concise, nontechnical guide to the actions, uses, and side effects of psychoactive drugs, 9th ed. New York: Worth Publishers). Hah! Idiots. Like kids don't inhale enough toxic substances already. Hope that link worked.
At 7:46 PM,
Ozzy said…
yup, we sure did. think it was the same night i saw it ummm,...where was that...i think i either saw it in a magazine, or on techtv. pretty sure it was techtv.
it's still stupid. :)
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