Immunity To Addiction?
Dealing with addiction is one of our biggest ongoing public health problems, but did you ever imagine that addicts could be vaccinated against their addictions? Unlikely though it sounds, the National Institute on Drug Abuse announced yesterday that an experimental vaccine to prevent cocaine users from getting high on the drug is showing promise. (For a full discussion, see the Scientific American article here.) The vaccine apparently works by triggering antibodies that bind to the cocaine molecules, preventing them from passing through the blood-brain barrier and as a result preventing the user from getting high. Although the vaccine still has a number of issues to be worked out (for now, its effects are only temporary, and it’s not effective on everyone), this is potentially a huge step forward in treating addiction.
Aside from the tiny part of me that is saying “Spoilsports!” even though I’ve never had cocaine myself and have no desire to try it, I have to say that this sounds pretty cool. I’m sure that this method will prove impossible to use on certain addictive substances just because of the chemistry, but still. According to a quick Google, over 22 million Americans have substance abuse problems of some kind. A tool that can give addicts some serious assistance in getting their addiction under control? Fantastic.
That’s interesting but I feel the need to point out that in many cases, the addiction issues are the symptoms of a larger problem. Innoculating folks against becoming addicted won’t stop many of the behaviors because in many cases, they happen in the first place as a coping mechanism for other things (abuse issues being a pretty significant precursor in a lot of cases). If it helps even one addict stay clean long enough to learn the skills they need in order to stay clean then by all means it is a great thing to have. As with most things, I fear that it will be viewed as the proverbial “magic wand” and leave people frustrated and disappointed when it doesn’t fix the problem.
Addiction definitely seems like one of our most difficult, slippery problems to wrestle with. I think because I don’t have an addictive personality, it’s a little hard for me to really grasp it sometimes. I also notice that sometimes people replace one addictive behavior with another one even when they’re getting clean — go from drug addiction to an obsession with exercise or “clean” eating or whatever. That seems like it must be an improvement, but I still sometimes wonder if that’s really healthy.
Fascinating. Would the potential vaccine, through whatever chemical process it follows, also mean a reduction in the painful withdrawal symptoms that are often the flip side of getting high? Aren’t these factors (depression/anxiety/pain etc) one reason why people find it so hard to break an addiction, even more so than the pleasure the substance itself brings?
I suppose I should read the SA article.