| Movie
stars get hung up on KGB's anti-hangover drug
By Guardian Newspapers, 9/23/2003
A drug created by the former KGB to keep its agents sober so that they
could drink opponents under the table before stealing their secrets is
being sold on the internet to Hollywood stars as a defence against hangovers.
The drug, known as RU-21, is made in Russia and sold as a natural remedy
on the internet. Hollywood actors are said to be fond of the fix, called
after the American legal drinking age, which enables them to make the most
of LA's party circuit without red eyes or pounding headaches detracting
from their delivering the goods on the film set next morning.
Its makers claim that it stops the body making an enzyme which turns
alcohol into acetaldehyde, a toxic chemical which can damage tissues.
The pill lets you get drunk, but indefinitely delays the hangover and
damage to the body's organs.
A little less convenient, the makers say that you have to take two pills
before or during every two drinks - a suspicious activity in trendy watering
holes.
The KGB invented the drug just after the second world war.
The secrets of the pill were declassified in 1999, and it was developed
into a market commodity by scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences
as part of an extended study of alcohol's effects on the body. Its makers
and Californian marketeers say it is selling to the tune of $10,000 (?6,000)
a week.
"Russians can out-drink anybody in the world anyway," said Emil Chiaberi,
head of Spirit Sciences, which sells the pill in the US. |
