It's come to my attention that the United States has developed a new "weapon" against drugs.  Apparently, people can now be vaccinated against Cocaine.  They have found a way to force the immune system to attack the cocaine, so it never makes it to the brain to produce the desired effect.
According to the article, "To help the immune system distinguish the drug, Kosten attached inactivated cocaine to the outside of inactivated cholera proteins."
I'm sure they had nothing but good intentions and did truly think it would be a great Idea to start infecting people with a mutated version of Cholera.   Despite the fact that it was only 4 months ago that the U.N. Reported a Cholera outbreak in Iraq. 
How easy we forget.
Aside from the potential problems with infecting a population with a mutated strain of bacteria, how effective could this kind of solution actually be in the real world? What this will do if it works properly is cause the immune system of the user to attack the cocaine, the most obvious  solution to this for someone who "needs" their high, is to take A LOT MORE.  In order to overwhelm the immune system, and allow some Cocaine through.  I would be interested to find out the statistics of overdose in users of this vaccine versus the general population of Cocaine users. 
Also Cocaine activates the same receptor sites in the brain as are seen activated in love.  Which causes me to wonder if the use of this vaccine would cause an immune system response whenever a user comes into contact with a loved one.
I would strongly recommend that no one use this vaccine unless they are in a very bad situation with their use.  And if anyone out there is in this kind of situation, for the sake of your friends and family I would stay in a quarantine situation until you are sure you will not pass on this mutated strain of Cholera.
As a closing note on this matter, please no one take this lightly.  I Personally would rather an occasional bloody nose than, a runny nose every time my girlfriend come near by.  But of course, I do see the usefulness for the heavy user that cannot get off Cocaine on their own.  I would stress to only use this as a last ditch effort.  And any mandatory vaccinations, would be totally irresponsible.  But you never know what can happen with the Bush Clan in power.

-Chris 01/03/2008