New Cocaine Vaccine

According to the National Institutes of Health, a new vaccine shows promise for helping people overcome addiction to the substance.

Initial research published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, is the first successful, placebo-controlled demonstration of a vaccine against an illicit drug of abuse.

The study shows that drug users given the vaccine were significantly more successful in abstaining than those who received a placebo, as indicated by urine tests.

Like vaccines which prevent diseases, the cocaine vaccine stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies. However, instead of destroying or deactivating the disease-causing agents, cocaine antibodies attach themselves to cocaine molecules in the blood, preventing them from passing into the brain and producing the euphoric high for which cocaine is known.

The vaccine was far from 100% effective, in fact, only 38% had substantial reductions in cocaine use. But it may be part of a more complex approach to treatment for some people with addictions.

The main shortcoming I see to the vaccine approach is that it reduces the complex process of recovery from addiction to a simple pharmacological formula. And addiction involves much more than pharmacology, including social factors such as peer pressure and psychological aspects, such as rituals in drug taking.