A Silver Bullet for Slaying Drug Addiction (Among Other Things) on the Horizon?

This got my attention:

www.washingtontimes.com...

Many heavy smokers quit immediately and permanently when a small structure deep in the brain is damaged, a finding that provides a new lead in the search for smoking-cessation treatments, a study says.

"Nicotine addiction depends on a healthy insula" -- a region of the brain linked to emotion -- say the study's authors at the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California and collaborators at the University of Iowa.

"There is a new target in sight. ... It is always amazing to identify targets," said Antoine Bechara, associate professor of neurosciences and psychology at USC and a senior author of the study. "There is a lot of potential for pharmacological developments."

This is some information on the structure of the brain that's being examined in relation to drug addiction and, specifically, nicotine addiction.

en.wikipedia.org...

I'm a heavy smoker, with no desire to quit, and this is interesting to me. Not because I think it might help me quit, but because it might lead to a greater understanding of the triggers that make smoking so pleasurable, the physiology that opens the doorway to psychological addiction.

As always, there seems to be the potential for abuse. I shudder when I think of the day that Happiness hits the shelves in pill form, and people usher in a dystopian world where the government and the corporations can abuse us endlessly, as long as we take our medication.

It already seems to be approaching that day. We don't have one pill, we have a whole regimen of drugs and artificial stimuli that help us ignore the truth.

Anyway, this article interested me, and I thought I should post it in case anyone hadn't seen it, and had an interest in the subject matter. Happy thinking.

I heard a couple of years ago that there were vaccines being developed which could vaccinate people against the cravings for tobacco, heroin, marijuana or even alcohol.

That would be neat. What if instead of being convicted for drug abuse, you could accept a diversion from the court which permanently ended your addiction ?

Like all powerful tools, there's enormous potential to do good, and right there along with it an equally enormous potential for abuse.

Imagine if the powers that be could override our discernment when it comes to what makes us happy. We could be made to think that toiling 18 hours a day and choking down soy paste is the greatest thing in the world.

It begs the Matrix-esque question, would you rather be falsely happy, or really miserable? I, for one, will take understanding and the suffering that comes along with it. Keep the fake steak, and I'll keep my humanity. Fair deal?

Prometheus didn't come down for nothin' yaknow...

Thanks very much for your reply. I posted this thread a long time ago, but I wanted to resurrect it because, apparently, nobody saw it.

Ibogaine is a natural alkaloid that can (and has been proven to) break/reduce addiction symptoms. However, it is a hallucinogen and therefore the pharmaceutical companies won't be able to make any money from it, so you won't be hearing about it on the 11oclock news.

Originally posted by forsakenwayfarer
Ibogaine is a natural alkaloid that can (and has been proven to) break/reduce addiction symptoms. However, it is a hallucinogen and therefore the pharmaceutical companies won't be able to make any money from it, so you won't be hearing about it on the 11oclock news.

I was about to say the exact same thing... brilliant minds so they say I have recommened that several people I know leave the States and seek iboga abroad. Pharmicutical/smoking/meth/etc. addiction is rampant in the metropolis these days.

anyway.

The only way to quit smoking; truly... without medication is to believe:

I AM NOT A SMOKER

That said...

I am,

Sri Oracle