For years, scientists have been trying to come up with some inoculation against feeling the effects of opiates, to get a person to quit. Papers were written several years ago about this concept. One can be found from 2014, titled “Vaccines against drugs of abuse: where are we now?”.

A few years ago, people were trying to develop inoculations to feeling the effects of heroin at the Scripps Research Institute. Now, a group led by Kim Janda at Scripps has developed an “anti-opioid vaccine,” as reported in ACS Chemical Biology.

A recent article from the Economist describes the opioid epidemic as an inevitable consequence of the only possible pain medication, failing to realize that there are alternatives to opiates and opioids for pain relief. Cannabis and kratom are among a few, one being illegal in most places, the other on it’s way to being illegal in many places (kratom, possibly the most harmless choice for pain relief in the world next to cannabis). The article said:

“Drugs derived from poppy juice, such as morphine, codeine, oxycodone and hydrocodone, known collectively as opioids, form the very foundation of pain management and are used in hospitals the world over.

Unfortunately, opioids are also highly addictive. Illicit consumption of them is reaching epidemic proportions—and not just among those who have wilfully chosen from the beginning to take such drugs recreationally. Many addicts were once prescribed an opioid legitimately, by a doctor, and then found that they could not stop. The upshot is a lot of premature deaths (see chart). Many researchers have therefore tried to find a way to deter those who have been given a brief taste of opioids from continuing to take them.”

This is a classic writing strategy employed by writers for mainstream media: it’s making the issue seem like a no-brainer, as if it’s universal common sense that opiates have to be a staple in modern medicine, and that researchers and scientists must be the ones to solve problems caused by them.

Why do “scientists” and “researchers” have to be the ones to solve this problem?

Any ordinary person who can research info online, and put it to the test in real life, can figure out that there are alternatives to opiates. Anyone can use their free will to learn a lesson after taking opioids, and be disciplined enough to not take them again. Speaking from firsthand experience, it’s up to the individual to decide not to become an addict: no amount of alleged science is going to change a person’s will.

If someone decides they are going to go down the path of opioid addiction, forcefully injecting them with an experimental vaccine to inoculate them from the effects of the drug isn’t going to make the root problem go away. You can bet anything, that person is going to switch to a different drug or escape if that is their will. And knowing how other vaccines affect people… That is the last thing anyone’s body needs.

However, heroin and opioid addiction, and overdose deaths, are massively rising in the US and around the world. In 2013, an unprecedented spike in overdose deaths started to occur, and the upward trend is continuing at the same rapid pace.

This is a prime example of the disruptive, interventionist attitude “science” has adopted.

(Image credit: IS)