Cure for Opiate Addiction?

Opiates are one of the most abused drugs known today. Two commonly abused substances that contain opiate are heroin and morphine. Heroin is the most notorious out of the two for being responsible for millions of deaths caused drug users overdosing. Heroin is a street drug that can be easily obtained and because of its unique high, it becomes very addicting to drug users. One would assume that because morphine is a prescription drug people would be less addicted to it because it would be hard to obtain, but that is certainly not the case. Morphine, like heroin, contains opiates that relieve people suffering with severe pain. Unlike heroin, morphine addicts are usually white and blue 

collar people dealing with emotional and psychological pain.

A recent laboratory study has found a drug that not only blocks the immune addictive response to opiates, but also treats patients suffering with severe pain. The drug is called (+)-naloxone and it can also be used to help treat patients suffering from opiate withdrawals. The study focused most of their efforts on the immune receptor known as the Toll-Like Receptor. The researchers believe that the Toll-Like Receptor was responsible for amplifying addiction, but with the help of the (+)-naloxone, addictions to opioids and behavior to opioid addiction ceases. The main component to this (+)-naloxone drug, is that it prevents dopamine, which is the reward from the drug, from being produce. Therefore if dopamine is not being produced, drugs are not need, which results in no addiction.

With the finding of this drug, it implies that an effective cure for opiate addiction has been found. This will indeed help the general public in a huge way by curing public figures and junkies who are suffering from this addiction. With the cure to these individuals, less illegal activity will take place because the demand for opiates will decrease.

  The limitation to this study is that it has yet been trialed for clinical studies. Although the researchers believe that it will work in solving the opiate addiction phenomenon, there is no evidence that it actually works. Since it has not been tested on people yet, there is no precise conformation that it works.

ABSTRACT

REFERENCE

Scientists can now block heroin, morphine addiction. (2012, Aug 15). Targeted News Service Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1038469107?accountid=12085