The Anti-Drug Drugs

Researchers are developing a range of vaccines—which are normally used to combat infectious diseases—against such highly addictive substances as cocaine, nicotine, heroin and methamphetamine. If these new drugs come to market, experts hope they can overcome one big hurdle that previous anti-addiction medications have failed to clear. "The idea of vaccines is not anywhere near as stigmatized as giving medication to the addicted," says Thomas Kosten, the Baylor Medical School psychiatrist who is leading research on the cocaine vaccine. "Vaccine sounds more wholesome than drug." Addiction is often seen as a personal weakness, not a medical condition to be treated or cured. Some experts say that stigmatization has stymied research into potential treatments for the estimated 20 million Americans who struggle with drug addiction.