Now, there are many people out there who probably drink too much alcohol and should curb their drinking, such as the young lady in the poster shown below. I suspect, however, they would not voluntarily opt to take any drug that cut their desire for alcohol.
But don't underestimate the power of marketing! Some day we may see Chantix TV ads that feature drinkers who look just like you or me suffering from a "problem." Although they may be having a great time at bars and parties, they secretly wish they did not have all those margaritas, beers, or martinis! Chantix to the rescue! Cut to sober tortoise winning the race against the inebriated hare!
Maybe Pfizer would lobby state legislatures to require teenagers convicted of DUI to undergo Chantix treatment. I think more people would be OK with that. Teenagers may like the hallucinogenic side effects too!
Just some random thoughts!
John,
ReplyDeleteI was engrossed in your blog (as I always am) and my wife walked my office in while I was reading this post. I had to explain that this was a new form of social media journalism by a well-respected industry expert. I think she bought it.
John Murray
Do you have kids in college? It's a photo my son could have sent me from one of HIS frat parties! That's why I found it interesting. Don't know what your wife was thinking!
ReplyDeleteI want to let everyone know that I think taking Chantix in order to quit drinking is actually the worst idea I have ever heard. Alcolics have a very difficult time with quitting drinking and if they slip up and have even just a couple of drinks on Chantix they can have severe reactions including violent psychotic behavior.
ReplyDeleteI know this first hand. My husband starting taking Chantix to quit smoking two weeks ago and slowly began to have side effects including confusion, disassociation, irratibility that went beyond the lack of nicotine. He then one night had a couple of drinks while on Chantix (my husband does not have a problem with drinking) and blacked out and became very violent with me. It was as if he had no idea who I was or what he was doing. My husband has never had any history of violence and when told about his behavior the next morning he was shocked. He had no idea of the nights events. I actually think they need to take this drug off the market and do more testing as I have read a lot about people who have had similar experiences with much worse results.
I started taking Chantix to quit smoking and it worked great. I also noticed that my desire to drink alcohol was drastically reduced. As a problem drinker, I was very excited to discover that Chantix has this effect on me. When I quit taking Chantix, my desire to drink on a regular basis returned, so I started back up on Chantix and almost immediately I had no desire to drink.
ReplyDeleteStick to alcohol. It may be a safer addiction than being dependent on Chantix! See DA asks Pfizer to further evaluate Chantix: http://bit.ly/oYED5F
ReplyDelete