All drug addicts hope for a simple solution to their problem. Could it be as simple as a vaccine?
The answer may be in a vaccine for crystal meth developed at the Scripps research Institute in La Jolla California, as reported in the journal Biological Psychiatry. As reported in www.huffingtonpost.com.
Considered one of the most widely abused and addictive recreational drugs, researchers may be one step closer to knocking down the destructive pull of methamphetamine.
They have developed a vaccine that appears to protect against meth intoxication in laboratory animals. The next step will be to see if it works in people, too.
Methamphetamine is one of the most common and destructive recreational drugs in the country. In the United States there are an estimated 430,000 users, with more than 41,000 new users this year. The drug, also known as speed or crank, can cause psychosis, and its stimulatory effects are considered 50 times stronger than cocaine, keeping people awake for days.
In California, meth accounts for more primary drug abuse treatment admission – 26 percent – than any other drug, including marijuana (21 percent) and alcohol (12 percent).
Earlier this spring, one of the largest U.S. methamphetamine drug busts took place in San Jose, where more than 750 pounds of the drug was seized, with a street value of more than $34 million.
The vaccine attacks the drug as it gets into the body and keeps it from going into the brain and the nervous system. It's an approach that has also been used for other addictions, with vaccines for cocaine and nicotine currently in development.
The process is still early but this looks promising. How nice would it be to find a way to get of meth once and for all? A drug class is a good place to learn about the dangers of meth. Keeping kids from every trying it is still the best prevention to meth addiction.