How Brexit Could Make Hangover-Free Alcohol a Reality

Remember those halcyon days before you got old and hangovers started hitting you like a bus? You could go hard on the supermarket Chardonnay, knock back Sourz at the bar, and wake up feeling perky and in time for brunch mimosas. Now, two negronis down and the next day is spent in a dehydrated daze.

But all that might be about to change.

According to a report released today by London-based think tank, the Adam Smith Institute, Britain could become a leader in synthetic alcohol, which claims to be hangover-free and healthier than normal booze. And it's thanks to our old friend Brexit.

The report states that EU regulations currently restrict the development of alternative booze. However, should Britain cut ties with the EU following the result of June's referendum, researchers at the Institute believe that the UK could lead the way.

In a press release about the report, Sam Bowman, the Adam Smith Institute's executive director, compared the potential of alternative alcohol to the success of e-cigarettes: "Regulation must be flexible and encouraging of new products that are safer than the vices they're competing with."

He added: "It is crucial that the government does not stand in the way of hangover-free alcohol."

Hear, hear.

One of the products cited in the report, currently dubbed "Alcosynth," was created last year by David Nutt, a neuroscientist and former government drugs advisor. The synthetic booze claims to mimic the effects of drinking alcohol for a couple of hours without any lasting health effects, like liver or heart damage.

The study into alternative booze also highlights the potential for the reduction of alcohol-related disease and deaths, which according to alcohol awareness charity Alcohol Concern, currently costs the NHS £3.6 billion a year.

But the director of Alcohol Concern, Andrew Misell, told MUNCHIES that the advent of hangover-free booze raises concerns over alcohol's role in society: "I think that there will be worries too that if we create a means to become drunk without negative physical effects, intoxication may simply become more normal and more acceptable."

He continued: "It's the prospect of a nasty hangover that makes many of us limit our drinking."

For now at least, we'll have to carry on spending the morning after a heavy night feeling thoroughly sorry for ourselves.