Katy Perry isn’t the only one who wakes up with a stranger in her bed and a pounding in her head. Now a bizarre new treatment designed to cure hangovers within 45 minutes may eliminate the Sunday morning ritual of downing pancakes and Gatorade.
Hangover Heaven is the name; a bus filled with IVs is the game. Dr. Jason Burke, a Las Vegas anesthesiologist, created Hangover Heaven, which debuted last Saturday in Sin City.
A couple of hungover partygoers called for the bus, and when it arrived, EMTs gave them IVs filled with fluids and vitamins, the same ones used for emergency alcohol poisoning treatment. Within the hour, the partying patients were on to the next bar. The treatment starts at $90 and gets as expensive as $150.
“I think that is insane, not worth it,” said Jillian Johnson, a pre-business freshman. “I could see how it works in Vegas with all the high-rollers but not on a college campus because no one has $90.”
Hangover Heaven is a waste of time and money for both the doctors behind it and the people who use it. Any hangover can be cured with sleep, water and a couple of Advil. It is yet another 2012 invention that offers a quick and easy fix for a stupid problem.
Burke’s goal is to keep people from missing a day of their vacations, according to an HLNtv.com article. He also said it was not created for people who would need the treatment regularly.
He may have good intentions but his idea seems silly when there are so many more important uses for EMTs and medicine. For example, there are more than 19 million adults who suffer from cancer, according to a 2010 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Health Interview Survey report. People throwing away $90 and wasting medicine and EMTs working on a bus for partiers, instead of in an ambulance, is downright offensive.
If the Hangover Heaven bus were to find its way to college campuses, the incidence of drinking could dramatically increase. Although $90 may seem pricey, if students know they have a quick fix to a hangover they may think the benefit outweighs the cost. But taking away the hangover risk might have adverse health effects.
Users may drink more than normal, or possibly get alcohol poisoning and land in the emergency room. People forget that a hangover isn’t just a headache, it’s your body’s reaction to extreme dehydration — not something to blow off.
A University of Wisconsin-Madison study this year found that larger universities, ones with 40,000 students or more, spend as much as $546,000 every year on student-alcohol related emergency room visits. While this cure might seem like a good answer, it will inevitably lead to increase in binge drinking.
“I mean I probably would (drink more),” said David Gill, a pre-retail sophomore. “I would never have a needle stuck in my arm unless I was dying.”
Burke’s creation doesn’t explicitly promote binge drinking,but it also doesn’t help the dangerous binge drinking culture in America.
Hangover Heaven may be a miracle for Vegas-goers but it is ultimately a wasteful and expensive way to erase the repercussions of a hard night out.
— Caroline Nachazel is a junior studying journalism and communication. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu or on Twitter via @WildcatOpinions .
