Anti-cocaine vaccine approaches human trials

Posted on June 21st, 2013 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , .

cocaineRaw Story reported May 12 that researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have successfully used a vaccine to produce a long-lasting anti-cocaine immunity in non-human primates. "The vaccine eats up the cocaine in the blood like a little Pac-man before it can reach the brain," the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, said in a press release. "We believe this strategy is a win-win for those individuals, among the estimated 1.4 million cocaine users in the United States, who are committed to breaking their addiction to the drug. Even if a person who receives the anti-cocaine vaccine falls off the wagon, cocaine will have no effect." Human clinical trials for the vaccine are expected soon.

We can understand how this news will be greeted happily by those whose lives have been wracked by cocaine addiction, but it has obvious grim implications for human freedom...

Photo by In a NY State of Mind

 

 

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