I think it was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that led me to believe that many of life’s problems would one day be solved by swallowing a miracle pill. Remember Violet Beauregarde’s three-course dinner chewing gum? You put a stick of gum in your mouth, and suddenly it was tomato soup! Roast beef with baked potato! Blueberry pie!

My mind went wild with the possibilities. The future, I was certain, would inevitably involve miracle pills or gums or lollies that would concentrate vast experiences or solve huge problems in a single swallow. Pills that make you fly. Pills that make you fluent in Portuguese. Pills that… I don’t know, give you the blueprint for how to balance the competing fiscal push-and-pull of high inflation vs. rising interest rates without tipping an economy into recession, should one happen to be the Chair of the Federal Reserve.

Which is why, when I read about a brand new ‘hangover pill’, that claims to be “a capsule that lets you drink without fear of a hangover” my first thought was, ‘Yeah! The future is now, baby!’ What could be better than a pill that would let you guzzle your way through an entire cocktail list and that bottle of crisp Chablis… and then feel fresh as a newly laundered shirt the next day?

Related story: 50 easy recipes to cure a deathly hangover

However, once my initial Wonka-like excitement waned, I began to have second thoughts. I hate hangovers with the heat of a thousand suns, but isn’t that the point? Aren’t hangovers Mother Nature’s way of telling you that that fifth Long Island iced tea was a really dumb idea? The hangover says, girl, next time say no to the Negroni.

Because even if you are able to erase hangovers from your life, it doesn’t mean drinking yourself sideways is a particularly clever thing to do. You’ll still do dumb things while you’re drinking – perhaps with even more abandon if you think there’s a get-out-of-jail-free card at the end of it. You’ll still spend more money than you should. You’ll still scream-sing to Shania Twain. You’ll still call your ex-boyfriend and profess your undying love, or admit to your friend that actually, you really do hate her new haircut. You’ll still text your boss and tell her to shove her job where the sun don’t shine. Those deeds don’t get erased the next day with a pill. The ‘hangxiety’ (and the wine flu) is there to remind you of what you did, inject you with a good dose of shame, and try to get you to do better next time.

A world of ‘shortcut’ or ‘problem solving’ pills is unlikely to do us any great favours. Maybe a pill that lets a medical student ace exams without studying is a great idea in theory, but you wouldn’t be very pleased if you were their future patient and those exams were meant to train them to operate on you. A pill that lets you taste the most delicious dishes of the world in a tiny capsule, a la Violet Beauregarde? Glorious I guess, but where’s the conviviality, the conversation, the bonhomie?

Besides, I can’t help thinking that if you’re able to drink too much without some sort of natural brake being applied to the process, your body is going to fight back in some other way. From memory, Violet Beauregarde reacted to her magical chewing gum by swelling up and turning into a big purple blueberry. “Exactly,” says your liver. “Something to think about.”

I think it’s best if I stick to drinking in moderation, for the most part. And if I do happen to cut loose on occasion? Well, the morning after will be just what I deserve.

Related story: Give your liver some love with these 11 low and no-alcohol wines