Cocaine `vaccine' clears research hurdle

[dArKeR]

THE GUARDIAN , LONDON
Wednesday, Jun 16, 2004,Page 6

Aidan Gray, director of the Conference on Crack and Cocaine

Drug treatment charities in the UK on Monday welcomed the first scientific evidence that a new "vaccine" against cocaine addiction could provide an extra line of defense in fighting drug abuse, helping users to quit by preventing them from getting high.

In early medical trials, the vaccine helped to reduce the likelihood of a relapse in recovering addicts -- and made taking the drug less pleasurable for those who succumbed.

Experts believe cocaine use has become far more prevalent in Britain in the last 10 years. A recent survey by the music magazine MixMag suggested it could soon overtake ecstasy as the dance drug of choice in clubs, and Aidan Gray, director of the Conference on Crack and Cocaine (Coca), says existing drug users have been turning to cocaine -- instead of heroin, for example -- in recent years.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/06/16/2003175270

[Must_B_Free]

1. "drug users have been turning to cocaine -- instead of heroin, "

That's terrible for those hard working heroin smugglers...

We MUST stop cocaine!

[thebigidea]

2. quick, send some to the White House!

before he gets all Scarface on everybody!

[stumblnrose]

3. I tried this

In the eighties...Something called imipramine, prescribed by a Columbia University professor/shrink, cut down on the effects of the cocaine I was smoking like a fish at the time. It made it easier for me to stop smoking for a day or two, but actually I could still get high if I smoked enough. Nothing works in my experience that comes in a pill or such not. I am a cult member today and it works for me.

[thebigidea]

6. a cult member? Well, gotta admire your honesty.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Imipramine is the generic form of a common tricyclic antidepressant.

[Gore1FL]

4. I wish they could do that with tobacco

give me a shot, make me vomit when I smoke -- that might just do it -- though it may take several weeks if I could muster the will power.

[Journeyman]

5. I used aversion therapy to help me quit smoking. . .

small electrical shocks administered while I smoked with my face over a huge ashtray, surrounded by mirrors. I figure I received in excess of 50,000 shocks that week. It helped. The decision to quit, and the resolve to stay quit, were all me, but the shock therapy helped get me over the initial days of withdrawal. That, and I haven't had to pay a light bill in over 18 years.

[Lucky Luciano]

7. A little Clockwork Orange-esque there!

[JayS]

9. "make me vomit when I smoke"

Okay. Remember that every cigarette you put in your mouth was previously slobbered on by Bush. :)

[indy thinker]

11. They are also working on a nicotine vaccine

Here is a link:
http://www.xenova.co.uk/dc_ta_nic.html

And the company's press release for the cocaine study:
http://www.xenova.co.uk/PressReleases/pr_20040614_01.html

[newyawker99]

14. Hi indy thinker!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[mulethree]

15. yummy " nicotine derivative coupled to recombinant cholera toxin B (rCTB)"

"TA-NIC vaccine is designed to act as follows: the nicotine derivative carried by an immunogenic protein will prime the immune system to produce anti-nicotine antibodies. On smoking a cigarette, nicotine readily enters the bloodstream where it is expected that it will encounter and bind to these antibodies. The antigen-antibody complex is too large to cross the blood-brain barrier, so the pleasurable stimulus which usually accompanies smoking will be absent or reduced."

Interesting, it really is a vaccine.

[JayS]

10. There is a similar experiment going on with alcohol addiction...

...right now. Let's hope it works!

[stumblnrose]

12. Addicts are multifacedly addicted

You can't just drug em, shock em or whatever. The holistic person is an addict. Anyone lived with a relatvie who just stopped drinking. Worse than before IMHO.

[JayS]

13. The treatment I have been reading about deals with...

...getting alcoholics to the point where their dependency on the drug is not so all-powerful that they cannot even begin to deal with the conditions that led to their drinking in the first place. It is a good step but I agree with you that drinking is only one part of a much larger problem. Too bad the War On Drugs exempts alcohol though.

[daleo]

16. Test this cocaine vaccine on a chimp

No, not lab animals, that would be cruel. There is another chimp who would be an interesting test subject, however...