Methamphetamine is one of the most addictive and thus commonly-used street drugs – according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, there are currently nearly 25 million meth addicts worldwide. Help may be on the way, however. Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have had success in using a methamphetamine vaccine to block the effects on meth on lab rats.
The vaccine works by allowing the body’s immune system to attack methamphetamine molecules in the bloodstream, keeping them from entering the nervous system. This keeps the meth from affecting the user’s brain, and thus removes the incentive for using the drug.
Ordinarily, meth molecules are too small to evoke an antibody response from the body. The vaccine, known as M6, gets around this by linking a meth-related chemical to a larger carrier molecule that does cause an antibody response. Once the antibodies are in the bloodstream, they attack both the carrier molecules and the actual meth molecules.
In tests on rats, M6 blocked two of the typical effects of the drug – loss of the ability to regulate body temperature, and in increase in physical activity. In another ongoing Scripps study, meth-targeting antibodies were grown in cultured cells in a lab, then injected into rats in a concentrated dose. This approach also blocked the effects of the drug.
More animal trials are planned for now, with the possibility of human trials occurring in the future.
Source: The Scripps Research Institute
A very high percentage of crime, especially muggings, robbery, and burglary, are committed by drug addicts in order to gain money for their drugs. Preventing these crimes, catching and prosecuting these people means huge drains on the public purse, in terms of increased security, higher insurance premiums, the cost of policing and incarceration, and the 'fear factor' (ie fear of being mugged, etc). Then there is the cost of treating the effects of drug use, such as treating infections, etc, caused by unsafe and unhygienic ways of taking the drugs, as well as the effects of the adulterants that the criminal drug dealers use to 'cut' the drugs with (and, ironically, the death rate that soars when unexpectedly relatively 'pure' drugs hit the streets). The 'war on drugs' was lost decades ago.
A vaccine, used with the user's consent, and as part of a holistic treatment package could be very useful. If used without consent, or if the user is not in a fit frame of mind to come off drugs, would be entirely counter-productive, as the user would simply find alternative, possibly more damaging ways to meet his or her 'need'- most addicts may be addicted primarily to one substance, however, addictive personalities will always need to find some kind of 'fix' or other, without the right combination of support and willpower.