US scientists believe they are close to developing a vaccine for nicotine addiction that could stub out smoking for good.
They are testing a synthetic molecule that destroys tobacco's "feel-good" effect by stimulating white blood cells to smother nicotine when it reaches the bloodstream. This prevents nicotine from creating an artificial high in the brain.
Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in California hope to try out the injection on humans within three years. If it works, the principle could be adapted to vaccinate children against addiction to drugs, including cocaine and heroin.
Aldous Huxley would have been proud to come up with such an idea (satirically, of course). Perhaps this is the answer to the age-old problem of people enjoying themselves in ways that displeases the government. This is more than a cessation device; it will make it pharmacologically impossible to derive pleasure from stimulants and narcotics. Kind of brings a new meaning to the word 'kill-joy', doesn't it?
It's interesting that the 'vaccine' is not even being pitched as an aid to quitting for people who want to do so. Instead, it is explicitly cited as a means "to vaccinate children" who, by definition, cannot consent. One of the researchers mentions that this would raise "profound moral questions". No kidding. But prohibition also raises profound moral questions and yet that has not stopped an Icelandic politician raising a private member's bill to do just that...
Iceland is considering banning the sale of cigarettes and making them a prescription-only product.
And yes, that is prohibition. Doctors were able to prescribe drink in 1920s America and can still prescribe hard drugs today.
To think that it all started with an assurance that they only wanted to warn smokers of the hazards of smoking and have non-smoking sections in restaurants.
As Johnny Rotten once said, do you ever get the feeling you've been cheated?
