You go to about.com. Their page on medical treatment for alcohol states, “Science has yet to develop a magic pill to cure alcoholism, but there are some drugs that will help reduce cravings and benefit those who are sincerely trying to quit drinking.”

Then you see on the ABC News (or the BBC News, like I did this past weekend) that there’s a doctor saying he did develop a magic pill to cure alcoholism.

Dr. Olivier Ameisen, 55, French cardiologist, claims he found a cure for alcoholism in a pill designed to help MS patients with their muscle spasms. In his book, “Le Dernier Verre,” he says he’d started taking the drug baclofen after reading about a man being cured of his cocaine dependence through baclofen. Now, claims Dr. Ameisen, he can have an alcoholic drink in a social setting with no side effects.

More doctors seem to dispute the cure claim than to support it, and I don’t really see it as a magical cure-all drug for alcoholism anyway. Perhaps it works for the good doctor, but it can’t work for everyone. There are too many factors that lead to alcoholism. Also, consider the fact that the, “discontinuation of baclofen can be associated with a withdrawal syndrome which resembles benzodiazepine withdrawal and alcohol withdrawal.” What’s the point of taking an alcohol-cure pill if discontinuation puts you into alcohol withdrawal anyway? I think we will have to see how this plays out in the medical journals.

Actually, what I think is most intriguing is how the heck this guy manages to cover a simple cure for alcoholism, but then requires an entire book just to say how.