New alcohol inhaler machine to become illegal ?

uscitizen

uscitizen

Villified User
Has anyone else been following this ? I first heard about it a week or so ago.
And alcohol inhaler that brings pretty much an instantaneous drunk.

So it appears the "drug"will remain legal and only the method of ingesting it be illegal.
 
uscitizen said:
Has anyone else been following this ? I first heard about it a week or so ago.
And alcohol inhaler that brings pretty much an instantaneous drunk.

So it appears the "drug"will remain legal and only the method of ingesting it be illegal.
Click to expand...

Actually, there's a very good reason for that. Recall that very few abused drugs are taken orally, as alcohol is, but generally are sniffed or injected. Exceptions to that are hallucinogens, but that's an entirely different class of drugs and a different topic. Here's a really short course in basic pharmacokinetics. Any substance that you swallow -- food, alcohol, pills, etc., will be digested and absorbed into the bloodstream through the intestinal walls after it has been metabolized by the liver. At that point, a substantial proportion of what was ingested has been metabolized to a different form and has now become waste and will be excreted, never to enter the bloodstream in its original form, or to reach its target (in the brain). Other forms of administration, such as inhalants and injection, bypass that first pass metabolic step, the liver, and enter the bloodstream directly. In this way they also reach the target area much, much faster.

If you drink alcohol, presumably you can gauge your intake (most casual drinkers can, anyway) and drink not really to get drunk but because you enjoy the beverage itself. Someone who inhales certainly would have a different objective and would reach that (and probably beyond) almost instantaneously. There would be no modulation of the intake by liver metabolism, no gauging at which point the intake had become dangerous. Not only would the intoxicating effect of the alcohol be instantaneous, but the effect will be greatly amplified because of the dosage, and will also amplify all the (unintended) side effects (it will go to all areas of the brain; ethanol is not very selective) and can easily, in that form, cause severe, irreversible damage. This is extremely dangerous.

I hadn't heard of these devices being used for anything other than alcohol research, but would have been appalled and I'm glad that this won't be marketed as a recreational device.
 
They are available on the web I hear. And a move to outlaw them is on the move, in KY at least.
I can't remember the name of the device though.
Just another darwin award nomination device.
 
I hear that the alcohol distillers in KY are very much for making the machine illegal. It would cut into their profit.
 
Thorn said:
Actually, there's a very good reason for that. Recall that very few abused drugs are taken orally, as alcohol is, but generally are sniffed or injected. Exceptions to that are hallucinogens, but that's an entirely different class of drugs and a different topic. Here's a really short course in basic pharmacokinetics. Any substance that you swallow -- food, alcohol, pills, etc., will be digested and absorbed into the bloodstream through the intestinal walls after it has been metabolized by the liver. At that point, a substantial proportion of what was ingested has been metabolized to a different form and has now become waste and will be excreted, never to enter the bloodstream in its original form, or to reach its target (in the brain). Other forms of administration, such as inhalants and injection, bypass that first pass metabolic step, the liver, and enter the bloodstream directly. In this way they also reach the target area much, much faster.

If you drink alcohol, presumably you can gauge your intake (most casual drinkers can, anyway) and drink not really to get drunk but because you enjoy the beverage itself. Someone who inhales certainly would have a different objective and would reach that (and probably beyond) almost instantaneously. There would be no modulation of the intake by liver metabolism, no gauging at which point the intake had become dangerous. Not only would the intoxicating effect of the alcohol be instantaneous, but the effect will be greatly amplified because of the dosage, and will also amplify all the (unintended) side effects (it will go to all areas of the brain; ethanol is not very selective) and can easily, in that form, cause severe, irreversible damage. This is extremely dangerous.

I hadn't heard of these devices being used for anything other than alcohol research, but would have been appalled and I'm glad that this won't be marketed as a recreational device.
Click to expand...
An alcoholic enema will transport directly from the colon to the liver through the hepatic portal vein. (Basic pharmokinetics of a suppository.)
 
Troglodyte27 said:
An alcoholic enema will transport directly from the colon to the liver through the hepatic portal vein. (Basic pharmokinetics of a suppository.)
Click to expand...
Somehow, I don't expect that Jack Daniels enemas will become all the rage in the dorms next year though. Okay, maybe in the frat houses.
 
Troglodyte27 said:
An alcoholic enema will transport directly from the colon to the liver through the hepatic portal vein. (Basic pharmokinetics of a suppository.)
Click to expand...

True, but then it still goes through first pass metabolism, which is bypassed by inhalants and injections.

That sounds pretty freaky, Trog! Yuk!
 
Thorn said:
True, but then it still goes through first pass metabolism, which is bypassed by inhalants and injections.

That sounds pretty freaky, Trog! Yuk!
Click to expand...
Yeah, but I've seen some frat house parties where it might have fit right in. Interesting visual, you must admit.
 
Would that manner of ingestion reduce liver damage from drinking ?

I just find it interesting that it is not the alcohol that is the issue, but the manner of ingestation.
 
uscitizen said:
Would that manner of ingestion reduce liver damage from drinking ?

I just find it interesting that it is not the alcohol that is the issue, but the manner of ingestation.
Click to expand...

No, because as Trog said, the alcohol would enter the liver directly via the portal vein. Even other substances taken by inhalation or injection would eventually reach the liver, but the doses/blood concentrations would be smaller and at least part of the substance would have been metabolized by other means.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top