About Alcoholism - Alcoholism Information, Research and Treatment

The general public, made aware that alcoholism is the fourth ranking disease in the United States, has awaited with clove-tinged breath announcement of a one-shot pill to "cure" alcoholism. Three years ago, J. A. Taylor, MD, announced in the Bulletin of the Los Angeles Neurological Society that metronidazole was a new agent for combined somatic and psychic therapy in alcoholism. Dr. Taylor repeated the claim at the meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology at Atlantic City in April, 1966. The Los Angeles announcement had created no great stir, but the Atlantic City hurrah was hailed in the lay press in extravagant and sensational terms. Metronidazole was touted by the press as "blocking alcoholic thirst," "banishing the taste for whiskey," and "making a sober life more palatable."