Anti-Obesity Pill Might Fight Drug (and Alcohol) Abuse

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A pill that helps you lose weight and quit smoking? That was amazing enough to capture headlines last week. But scientists say the experimental drug might be even more versatile, providing a new tool to help people stop abusing drugs and alcohol, too.

It's called rimonabant, or Acomplia, and last week researchers reported it could help people not only lose weight but keep it off for two years. That burnished the drug's reputation after two studies in March, which suggested it could fight both obesity and smoking, two of humanity's biggest killers.
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Animal studies suggest rimonabant can block the effects of marijuana and fight relapse in alcohol and cocaine abuse, he said. Once it is approved for treating obesity or smoking, "we'll be free to study it in these other areas and I'll try to get my hands on it as quickly as possible," O'Brien said.
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Rimonabant's versatility traces back to its effects on the brain's reward system, circuitry that tells you to keep on doing something. Basically, it appears to help break the connection between an activity like smoking and the rewarding feeling it causes in the brain.

more..
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041114/ap_on_he_me/super_pill

I wonder if it has a similar effect when applied to members of the GOP - maybe it'd take all the fun out of looting the treasury. Perhaps it should be required for all members of Congress and the White House.