The professor, who fired from his post as the Government’s chief drugs advisor in 2009 for saying cannabis, ecstasy and LSD are less harmful than alcohol and cigarettes, envisages a two part-process.

Revellers will first take a drink that produces the happy, fuzzy feeling of alcohol. Once they have had enough, they will pop an antidote pill that instantly sobers them up.

With alcohol-related illness costing the NHS £3.5billion a year, Professor Nutt, who has spent most of his working life treating alcoholics, says harm-free booze would ‘revolutionise’ healthcare.