Ketamine might be the solution to rewriting drinking memories

A single dose of ketamine may be able to curb harmful drinking behaviour by rewriting drinking memories.  PHOTO | FOTOSEARCH.

Ketamine might be the solution to rewriting drinking memories. Research from the University of London revealed that a single dose of ketamine might be able to curb harmful drinking behaviour by “rewriting drinking memories”. Ketamine is a medication that is used to induce loss of consciousness, or anaesthesia. It can produce relaxation and relieve pain in humans and animals. The research published in the journal Nature Communications reveals that if taken in the right context, the hallucinogenic drug may be able to weaken what triggers people to drink beer. The research team collected 90 heavy drinkers who mainly liked beer and drank about 17 litres on average, daily.

This is about five times as much alcohol as recommended by the doctor. The drinkers were, however, not diagnosed as alcoholics. In the experiment, subjects were asked to look at photos of drinks such as beer, orange juice, and wine, and then evaluated the joy of drinking beer. According to the research team, seeing photographs and thinking for evaluation stimulates the “reward system for drinking beer”.

According to the research, the study was conducted in 10 days, and on the first day, the drinkers reported that they had taken beer. On the second day, they were not offered, prompting “stabilisation of memory”. After the experiment, subjects who received ketamine were found to have significantly reduced dependence on alcohol. Their alcohol consumption also halved over nine months. Ravi K. Das, the lead author of the paper, said ketamine as drug easily abused, comes with baggage that may make people reluctant to see it as a way to treat addictions. But if a single dose of ketamine can slow excessive drinking, then that is an easy trade-off from a health perspective.