Scientists in Brazil are developing the first vaccine that could help break cocaine addiction
Scientists in Brazil are developing the first vaccine that could help break cocaine addiction
The vaccine is designed to help produce anti-cocaine antibodies in the body of a person who is chemically dependent on the substance.
Scientists in Brazil are developing the first vaccine that could help break cocaine addiction::The vaccine is designed to help produce anti-cocaine antibodies in the body of a person who is chemically dependent on the substance.
It sounds like this treatment would need close supervision as it appears to only remove the effects of cocaine but not the desire of the effect of cocaine. From the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
“cocaine acts by binding to the dopamine transporter, blocking the removal of dopamine from the synapse. Dopamine then accumulates in the synapse to produce an amplified signal to the receiving neurons. This is what causes the euphoria commonly experienced immediately after taking the drug”
Would people not just chase the equivalent effect from another drug or substance or potentially overdose trying? Do people go through full withdrawal with this treatment? I would presume so.
There's a similar therapy used sometimes with alcoholics – although in that case, the drug (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disulfiram) doesn't just block the effects of intoxication, it makes the experience intensely miserable (sometimes even to the point of being life-threatening).
Disulfiram can be quite successful when used correctly, but the success of the treatment largely depends on the patient's willingness to continue the therapy. I imagine the same will apply with this vaccine.
There are two less extreme medications for alcohol abuse prevention. Naltrexone -also used for opiate cravings, and Campril. Naltrexone also blocks effects of alcohol without making you violently ill, but speaking from experience, enough alcohol can overcome the effect.
I can't speak to Campril much because it gave me horrible side effects and I had to stop taking it pretty much immediately.
IIRC one of the anti-opiate medicines does the same thing. Any time you consume opiates you get ridiculously sick to the point where it's just not worth it.
Naltrexone ftw!
This has actually been tried before in a number of different ways, with horrific results because of what your comment addresses.
There was a Soviet drug that would make people violently ill if they drank alcohol. There was a drug from Brazil that would make people ill for cocaine or opiates. Another more recent one from Mexico worked like a Beta Blocker for Cortisol.
You just can't stop the human body from doing what it is instinctively built to do. You certainly can't make an addict take a pill every day to stop the reaction.
I’ve been doing that for a decade now at least. (Taking a pill that is).
You have to want to be sober though. I could get a slight buzz from opiates these days if I tried hard enough. It might make me sick, but if it don’t it would only last for about 15 minutes and then I’d have a headache all day after spending 300 bucks to get there.
I’d say fentanyl has made that a little more complicated. It wasn’t easy to acquire when I quit. I only ever heard of the patches.
Yeah the addiction is to dopamine, cocaine is just an easy way to get that fix. Gambling and other lesser addictions give the same dopamine fix, but then there are good addictions that provide the same dopamine hit. None of them are as immediate and as powerful as the old nose candy though (aside from amphetamines).
Some people are hardwired to "love dopamine" more than others (so called "addictive personalities"), so it's all about replacing a bad addiction with a good one. I have ADHD and it went untreated for nearly 4 decades, I was always the one out of my group of friends that could be like "nah, I've had enough coke tonight, my sinuses are on fire and I'm not getting anything more out of it, I'm just wasting money at this point" meanwhile my friends are always like "YOU WANNA DO/GET MORE?!?" 😳 I still get high from it, but I can apparently control myself a lot better than other people.
Addiction is a symptom not a root issue. If the context of someone's addiction is escapism then this theoretically will just push them to another potentially more harmful method.
For things that are physically addictive, addiction is actually a disease.
They change the way your brain functions and can elevate themselves to the same level as thirst in some cases.
You aren't wrong that other factors can cause a person to use addictive substances and this won't help with that.
But many people do addictive substances purely because they get addicted.
In many cases addiction makes your life way worse and the things you do to feed it are horrendous. So this argument doesn't apply to many.
Sure but I don't think there is no one who resolved their root cause but still are hooked by their chemical addiction
Pretty neat. I had to laugh at the fact that the US is the top consumer of cocaine, not any of the Central or South American countries where it's far cheaper. Coke is stupid expensive in most places in the US like $50-90/gram that is maybe 20% pure. At least that's how it was up in the NYC area. I live in Miami now so I'm sure its a lot better quality down here.
20% pure is insane! Everything around is 70%+ after testing. Why do a drug so insanely impure?! If it doesn’t sheen, that’s just mean. If it’s not a chunk, it’s probably bunk. If it’s not a shiny rock, it’s blimey schlock.
I'm just pulling numbers out of my ass, but it gets cut multiple times, maybe 20-30x times from the time it's made in a place like Colombia until it gets to a small time dealer in NYC (that's like 3,000 miles). I've never gotten enough for it to be worth testing, but I imagine it's less than 50% pure from a lot of shitty dealers. They're just trying to make the most profit.
It's also all about who you get it from. I bought some a few months ago from a dude my friend knew when I lived up there and it was garbage and was like $80/g. It wasn't washed well or had a bunch of adulterants in it, it had a strong smell and burned like hell, it made our noses bleed. Another friend who has good connects always gets good stuff, some of the best blow I've had (I'm not a conesseur, it's too damn expensive, but I do it when the opportunity presents itself) and other people who have done the same stuff he gets agree.
Now I just want to try anti-cocaine. 😅
That's called Heroin (or benzos)
CJNG in shambles
This is the best summary I could come up with:
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Scientists in Brazil have announced the development of an innovative new vaccine to treat addiction to cocaine and its powerful derivative, crack.
Dubbed "Calixcoca," the treatment, which has shown promising results in trials on animals, triggers an immune response that blocks cocaine and crack from reaching the brain.
(tldr: 2 sentences skipped)
According to Frederico Garcia, a psychiatrist and coordinator of the project at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, if the treatment gets regulatory approval, it would mark the first time cocaine addiction is treated using a vaccine.
Last week, the project won the top prize of €500,000 at the Euro Health Innovation Awards for Latin American medicine which was sponsored by pharmaceutical firm Eurofarma.
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Garcia believes Calixcoca could add an important tool to that regimen by helping patients at critical stages of recovery, such as when they leave rehab.
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The exact target group will depend on the outcome of clinical trials, but is theoretically meant to be recovering addicts "who are off (cocaine) and want to stay that way," he said.
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The original article contains 538 words, the summary contains 191 words. Saved 64%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!