Let’s call it “junk science”

In January, Wired magazine ran an article called “Instant Detox” about a radical new procedure to clean up heroin addicts by putting them under general anesthesia and shock-cleaning the system. The kickquote: “Kick heroin in 24 hours - no willpower, withdrawal, or preaching required. Call it a cure. Call it junk science. Call it the one-step program.”

Now some serious doctors say, yes, it’s too good to be true: “An increasingly common method of heroin detoxification under general anesthesia is ineffective and unsafe, according to a study by psychiatrists at Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia.” (Hat tip: Good “stuff”)