Vaccine for addiction is on the way

After more than ten years in the making, professor Thomas Kosten has finished a vaccine that has the potential to cure addiction. The way it accomplishes this is nothing short of amazing. The drug literally prevents the body from getting high!

Right now, the vaccine addresses the effects of cocaine most effectively. However, he says they are working on translating this wonder medicine to other applications such as methamphetamine and heroin. Imagine if they could address the same addiction that cigarette smokers deal with?

Another incredible aspect of this vaccine is that even thought the process takes a while, there are no withdrawals. So patients trying to kick the addiction to a substance don't have to go through all the painful side-effects! So how did they do it? Well, doctors inject an altered version of the drug, in this case the cocaine molecule, which tells the body to start making antibodies against it. When the real cocaine is used, it ends up getting urinated out before it ever reaches the brain. Science can do some truly amazing things -- let's see if they can come up with more variations of this vaccine!