Vaccine for Heroin Abuse

Recently there has been pioneering research into the possibility of engineering a vaccine that helps the body identify heroin as something that shouldn’t be metabolized. The implication of this finding is that, since the body identifies the byproducts of the ingested heroin as toxic, it does not allow them to cross the blood/brain barrier.

Anyone who was vaccinated would, therefore, be unable to get high, or more importantly, overdose and die. Heroin addiction is already a major public health issue in this country and the problem is only getting worse by the year. The research into this vaccine represents a potential solution to this grave and expensive issue, but the pharmaceutical industry has displayed absolutely no interest in funding human clinical trials.

The reason for this is there is more money to be made on “replacement therapy;” the substitution of one addictive opiate for another obtained legally and regulated by a doctor’s prescription. I’m not surprised that the very same institution culpable for our prescription opioid and resulting heroin epidemic feels zero responsibility to mitigate the harm they have caused nationwide.

Altruism is apparently secondary to making a buck here in America.

Written by Guest Blogger: John F.