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The drugs won’t work Heroin vaccine created to battle drug addiction, study says
metronews.ca WEEKEND, JULY 22-24, 2011
U.S. scientists claim in a report due out at the end of the month that they have developed a potential new weapon in the war on drugs: A heroin vaccine. Researchers at California’s Scripps Research Institute say that their vaccine, which has been tested on rats, produces antibodies that stop heroin from reaching the brain to release its euphoric effects.
“The hope is that such a protective vaccine will be an effective therapeutic option for those trying to break their addiction to heroin.” KIM JANDA, STUDY’S LEAD AUTHOR
With 25 years’ experience with such vaccines, the study’s lead author Kim Janda said the immunizing effect of this new drug is the best he’s ever encountered. “I haven’t seen such a
strong immune response as I have with what we term a dynamic anti-heroin vaccine,” Janda said in a statement. The results of their study showed that the rats that
received the vaccine were less willing to self-administer heroin. Janda’s team hope their research will help curb heroin use. The world’s deadliest narcotic is used by roughly 13 million addicts, causing up to 100,000 deaths per year, spreading HIV, and funding criminal and terrorist activities. ANTHONY JOHNSTON
Media. Exposure
MP for Papineau and avid rugby fan Justin Trudeau splits his pants while pushing the “scrum machine” in support of Prostate Cancer Canada in Toronto on Thursday. DARREN CALABRESE/THE CANADIAN PRESS
A rip-roaring occasion Tennessee black bear freed from jar stuck on its head A black bear is back in the woods in Tennessee after getting help with a problem — a plastic jar stuck on its head. State wildlife officers looked for the bear for three weeks after reports he was caught in the unfortunate headgear. The Knoxville News Sentinel said the male bear was roaming the area around Newport, in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. On July 17, wildlife officer Shelley Hammonds was checking another sighting report when the
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this undated photo provided by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, a bear with a jar stuck on its head is seen in Cocke County, Tenn.
animal ran in front of her vehicle. Hammonds sedated it with a tranquilizer dart and the bear collapsed in downtown Newport, where dozens of people watched the jar removal. The bear weighed just 115 pounds, when it should have weighed around 200. It was released into the Cherokee National Forest. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS