If you were told that there was a pill you could take that could cure you of the dread disease by which you were embattled, would you take it? Is there such a pill for the alcoholic? Have I been wrong in my long-held opinion that there is no such thing as a magic pill that as some claim can bring about such a cure for the alcoholic?

Welcome to episode 6 of Two Drunks With a Mic. The podcast where we share our past so that others might have a future. Subscribe and share is all we ask.

In episode 5, The Promises, during my conversation with Gary Farrall, we shared the opinion that there is no magical cure to be found in a pill. I’ve heald this opinion for a long time.

But like I said in our Origins episode, we are not above learning new things. Especially if it can help to save someone’s life. So I revisited my opinion. And like I’ve said before, we will always strive to remain as objective as we humanly can.

What I’ve put together is by no means an exhaustive study. A simple Google search and a dictionary can get a person to where they need to be to find all of the information I have found. All sources are cited in the show notes and I would urge anyone interested to check them out.

So just so I’m clear: It isn’t the efficacy of pharmacological treatments such as the one I am going to discuss that I call into question. Like I have said on many occasions, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all form of recovery. Randy and I really don’t care where you find the solution that fits you, as long as you find one.

Operative term here being treatment.

Now, as to whether or not such a protocol is a good one, there are plenty of people out there to man the fields of that battle. Most debates I have read regarding the validity of one treatment system over another amount to no more than mere spirited opinion being thrown back and forth. And a whole lot of “this didn’t work for me” coming from both sides.

Rather tiresome.

Some have even gone as far as to cast blame on the institution of AA claiming that the organization is blocking the path for what AA detractors feel are better ways. Though there are articles out there that call into question some of the methods used by others, I have yet to read any article written by an AA proponent that categorically denies the effectiveness of these other forms of treatment. I’m sure such articles exist, I’ve just not seen them.    

I’ve got no horse in either race. But whatever you do, make up your own mind.

So this question of whether or not a magic pill exists, stems from the myriad claims that an opiate antagonist, such as one known as Naltrexone, can be, and has been, successfully used to treat and HERE IS OUR WORD “cure” people stricken with, to use the modern term, alcohol use disorder (AUD).  

Though there are others that heavily market themselves as purveyors of such a drug, perhaps the most well known system to employ the use of these particular pharmaceuticals is The Sinclair Method. Or TSM as most of its adherents I found  refer to it. As TSM’s name might suggest, this method was researched and developed by the late doctor, John David Sinclair.

So what is TSM and what is its working design?

In his definitive statement published on the