When we were children, we certainly had doses of vaccines given to us to protect us from catching the flu and other harmful health conditions. Now, researchers say such vaccines may soon become available for people recovering from substance abuse.
For a few decades now, the researchers have been working on a vaccine model for drugs like; fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and even alcohol. There currently exist medications to deal with these issues, but the researchers note that a vaccine will deal with these issues more definitely; eliminating the need to take many doses of medications and producing lesser side effects.
For a person to get addicted to a drug, they must take enough of the drug to interfere with the brain’s pleasure organisms. Some sort of feel good effects are generated and the person tends to want to take more of the drugs to get that effect. It is this feel good effect that vaccines will target to help patients deal with drug abuse.
The vaccines are designed to produce antibodies that will attack the substance before it even reaches the pleasure center of the brain. Should this become a reality, these vaccines may just become the ultimate solution to the drug addiction problem America and the rest of the world faces.
And while scientists and the population gear up for such a major occurrence, it is clear that we such a vaccine may not see the light of day so soon. Normally, it will have to undergo several levels of trials before it can eventually be made available for human consumption. And even if the vaccine becomes available, it may not be so affordable in the early days of its discovery. Perhaps it could take a couple of years from now for the vaccine to eventually be used by the common man.
All the same, such a vaccine is already in the making, and that’s good news altogether for drug addicts around the world.