The United States is in the middle of a prescription drug epidemic that stems mostly from opiate pain killers. But who exactly are the people abusing these drugs? Is there a pattern of abuse?
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In the 60s there was an epidemic in the United States regarding our youth and their drug addictions. It soon became time to think beyond the box in order to assist them. Most addicts knew they needed long-term help and that the most important factor in their treatment was to separate themselves from the temptation of seeing drugs and to enter a support group of peers.
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The search for effective treatment of cocaine addiction could finally be taking a hopeful turn according to a research study recently published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. The study gives hope to those working with coke addicts because until now FDA-approved medications addressed only the symptoms of cocaine withdrawal.
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According to a new report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, scientists are creating three formulations that could be used in a vaccine to treat methamphetamine addiction.
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New research has found that a vaccine can block the effects of cocaine by combining elements of the common cold virus with a particle that mimics cocaine. This could be the first medication to treat cocaine addiction, and could help treat other addictions, such as nicotine and opiates.
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Researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine have become the first to find a link between specific neurons and alterations in the “reward” people feel after taking cocaine. Mary Kay Lobo, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and first author of the study, said that they found that the two main neurons in the nucleus accumbens (an important part of the brain’s reward center) have opposite effects on cocaine reward.
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On October 12th, 2010, the Food and Drug Administration approved Vivitrol, an injectable medication, as a treatment for opiate addiction. Opiates include heroin and narcotic painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin.
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A researcher from the University of Cincinnati was awarded a $2.5 million five-year grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to develop a potential immunotherapy for cocaine addiction. One of the four winner of the NIDA’s first Translational Avant-Garde Awards for Innovative Medication Development Research, Andrew Norman, PhD, is a professor in the psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience department at the University of Cincinnati.
Read more about Researcher Given Grant to Explore Antibody Treatment for Cocaine Addiction
Currently, the prescription medication naltrexone is commercially available for the treatment of alcohol dependence under the brand name Vivitrol by Alkermes since it gained approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2006. After considering Alkermes’ supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA), submitted earlier this year, that showed extensive evidence of the alcohol-dependency treatment medication’s positive effects on opioid addiction, the FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee has now recommended the commercial use of naltrexone for the treatment of opioid dependency. The opioid-blocking, extended-release injectable suspension may become the first non-addictive, non-narcotic drug agent available in a monthly prescription come October.
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If you’re at the point where you know beyond a doubt that your loved one requires treatment for addiction, you may be at a loss to figure out which type of treatment is best. There are several different options, including inpatient hospital treatment, outpatient hospital-based treatment, specialized outpatient treatment centers, and residential treatment facilities.
Read more about How to Tell if My Loved One Really Needs Residential Drug Addiction Treatment?