The Quest for a Hangover-free Buzz

In the fall of 2024, I decided to take a break from drinking. Even as a very occasional drinker, I was surprised to find that I missed it. It turned out alcohol had played a bigger role in my life than I’d given it credit for—for starters, it helped me meet my husband!

This led me to wonder whether anyone was trying to create something to replace alcohol that wasn’t quite so terrible for you, and that led me to David Nutt, a British neuropsychopharmacologist who was doing just that. In this feature for Bloomberg Businessweek, I explored the new science that could one day soon give us a guilt-free buzz.

(Incredible illustration for this story by Nicholas Law for Bloomberg Businessweek)