[conspire] A Man Drank 1 Bottle Rubbing Alcohol For COVID-19. This Is What Happened To His Brain

[Nick Moffitt]

On 25Apr2020 12:22am (-0700), Rick Moen wrote:
> Apparently, some examples of denatured alcohol merely have methanol as
> part of the formula, which as you say endangers eyesight.  But all of
> the examples I've encountered have been more-typical 'rubbing alcohol'
> formulations, which in addition to methanol includes denatonium to make
> it extremely bitter, pyridine to make it very unpleasant smelling, and
> sometimes syrup of ipecac to induce immediate vomiting in anyone dumb
> enough to try to drink it.
> 
> Unbelievable that people insist on trying, but I should know there's
> always somebody.

This is the first article that came up when I went searching, but I've heard radio stories about other shelters that gave out wine to alcohol-dependent residents:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/26/homeless-shelter-ottawa-gives-wine-to-alcoholics

The shelter in the story I remember hearing started doing it when they found their residents were drinking mouthwash and other dangerous things.  They did the harm reduction calculus and decided that a bottle of two-buck chuck per night was cheaper and less deleterious to the residents than anything they had been doing up to that point.

"Cold Turkey" alcohol withdrawal has a death rate that makes heroin and crack look like small beer.