Addiction vaccines?

Vaccines against addictions coming

In a coc aine vaccine, for example, coc aine molecules are attached to harmful bacteria, which is then introduced into the bloodstream.

The body makes antibodies for the coc aine, and those antibodies prevent subsequent coc aine molecules that enter the body from reaching the brain, neutralizing the drug's effect.

Users of the harmful drugs would eventually learn there was no longer a reward for taking them, and they would stop using them, said Thomas Kosten of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Now this isn't without risks, a few claimed are:

For example, because the vaccines don't remove a person's addiction, people will take more of the drug in an attempt to get high.

If cigarette smokers start to smoke more because of a vaccine, the increased level of toxins could have adverse effects, Kosten said.

Another problem: Many people have multiple addictions, and the reduction of one could lead to the increased use of another drug.

I'm only a cigarette smoker myself trying to quit I can't see how a vaccine could possibly help me. Seems to me though that the "risks" are exactly what would happen since the addiction isn't only a physical addiction. These vaccines sound very dangerous to me. I can't help but feel that people will replace them with other harmful substances like alcohol.

I think people with addictions are prone to them and usually have several of them. You knock one out you make the others stronger. This isn't such a black and white problem that is solved by such a black and white solution.

Do we really need a vaccine for this? It's not impossible to go clean, and they're treating these addictions as if they are. Don't get me wrong, it would be great if nobody was addicted to harmful things, but I think this just won't work and in the end cause more harm than good.

Another angle on this is vaccinating children with this before they develop any of these addictions so they never become addicted to these drugs in the first place. But that would be going too far, wouldn't it?

It also depends on how long the vaccines last for, the only way these could reliably work would be if they were forced upon the user. Any user worth his weight in crack will just wait for the vaccine to wear off most probably. It wont stop the cravings.