March 2016

A Vaccine for Heroin?

Posted on by Christy Weeks
heroin

The American prescription opioid epidemic has affected millions of Americans and their loved ones. Efforts to curb painkiller abuse had the unintended effect of leading to a scourge of heroin use – as the drug is often times cheaper, stronger and easier to acquire in the wake of prescription opioid crackdowns. Heroin abuse has become a major public health concern in both urban and rural America, due to the rise in both addiction and overdose death rates. While there is help available in the forms of treatment and 12-Step recovery, relapse rates are particularly high among opioid addicts.

Scientists continue to develop new methods intended to give addicts the best shot at successful recovery, and believe it or not, in the near future there may be a vaccine available that will prevent people from getting high if they use. Research was published last month that dealt with developing a vaccine that would prevent people from getting high if they use the powerful opioid narcotic fentanyl – an analgesic that is 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine, and 50 times stronger than heroin.

What’s more, clandestine laboratories are manufacturing fentanyl which is then being mixed with heroin to make it more potent. Heroin users are often unaware of the presence of fentanyl, an ignorance that can prove fatal. Admixtures of heroin fentanyl can severely depress respiratory function, which can result in death.

Working with mice, researchers were able to inject the animals with booster shots that would train their immune systems to attack the fentanyl molecules in the bloodstream before the drug crossed the blood-brain barrier resulting in euphoria or potential overdose, The Daily Beast reports. Additionally, when the researchers injected the mice with lethal doses of fentanyl, the mice survived.

“The idea that [the researchers] can make an effective vaccine is very cool. It’s a good accomplishment,” says Phil Skolnick, director of the Division of Pharmacotherapies and Medical Consequences of Drug Abuse at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), who was not involved in the study. “You have to trick the body, and it requires a fair amount of trickery.”

If the human clinical trials are successful, it could eventually lead to the development of a heroin vaccine. The vaccines would be specific to particular drug molecules. If people in recovery from heroin addiction are vaccinated, it could significantly deter relapse because the user would know that they will not experience the desired euphoric affect.

Until such time, the best opportunity of successful recovery rests on effective, evidence-based addiction treatment programs. If you are battling with prescription opioid and/or heroin addiction, please contact Harmony Foundation to begin the journey of recovery.

Testing Cannabis Edibles for Potency

Posted on by Christy Weeks
cannabis-edibles

Last month we wrote about what is known as “marijuana tourism,” the act of traveling to states where recreational marijuana use is legal. With four states allowing adult cannabis use, there are a number of options for people who want to experience the end of marijuana prohibition first hand. A number of marijuana tourists are not regular users, and may or may not have ever used extremely potent strains of marijuana or edibles that can be purchased at pot shops. In the state of Colorado, researchers found that emergency rooms have seen a surge of visits by out-of-staters experiencing marijuana-related medical problems. Many of the incidents involved marijuana edibles which, it turns out, can be difficult to gauge with regard to the dosage of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) present in such products.

There is a growing concern about inconsistent and inaccurate dosage information listed on the labels of marijuana edibles, which can mislead potential users. In response, scientists have developed a new method for measuring the level of marijuana compounds present in edibles, Science Daily reports. The scientists exhibited their work this week at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

“Producers of cannabis edibles complain that if they send off their product to three different labs for analysis, they get three different results,” says Melissa Wilcox, who is at Grace Discovery Sciences. “The point of our work is to create a solid method that will accurately and reliably measure the cannabis content in these products.”

Jahan Marcu, Ph.D., from Americans for Safe Access and vice-chair of the newly formed ACS Cannabis Subdivision, points out that inconsistent and inaccurate labeling is important because eating cannabis is different than smoking, according to the article. Cannabis edibles are metabolized differently than when marijuana is inhaled, which can produce a stronger high that comes on slowly and has a longer lasting effect.

“It’s a lot easier for an individual to control their dose when smoking,” Wilcox says. “The effects of edibles can take a while to happen. You eat them, and then wait to see how you feel in an hour or two. If you ingested too much, you could be in for an unexpectedly bad experience.”

The current method employed for analyzing the potency of edibles involves using a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), the article reports. Marcu notes that HPLCs were not designed to have food injected into them, the sugars, fats and starches hinder the machines ability to produce accurate results. In order to combat the problem, the researchers developed a technique that separates the cannabinoids from the rest of the food. They then inject a liquid containing only the marijuana compounds into the HPLC.

People traveling to take part in the marijuana experience should be fully aware of the risks present with cannabis use. While the drug is legal for both medical and recreational use in a number of states, it does not mean that the drug cannot have adverse effects on people and it can also be habit forming. If you believe that cannabis use is negatively affecting your life, please contact Harmony Foundation.

Senate Votes On Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act

Posted on by Christy Weeks
CARA

With presidential candidates crisscrossing the country discussing how to handle the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic, lawmakers in D.C. are also hard at work to combat the problem as well. It is no secret that democrats and republicans often disagree about major issues; one thing lawmakers from both sides of the aisle can agree on is that something needs to be done – sooner rather than later.

This week, the Senate voted in favor (86-3) of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), a bill which would give federal grants to states and local governments to help fund the fight against our nation’s crippling health crisis, USA Today reports. If a final vote on the bill’s passage is in favor, it will give the Attorneys General the power to fund improvements in:

  • Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs
  • Addiction Treatment
  • Prevention
  • Education

CARA was sponsored by Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, a Democrat, and Rob Portman of Ohio, a Republican, according to the article. A bill which would put at least $80 million towards treatment, prevention and recovery. While the bill’s support is definitely a step in the right direction, the bill would not actually fully fund $725 million needed to accomplish everything that its sponsors intended. Unfortunately, an effort to add $600 million in emergency funding to the bill was blocked last week.

One of the states affected the most by the opioid crisis is New Hampshire. While a small state, they are losing lives every day to overdoses. The effort to garner the additional funding was led by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.

“There is simply no excuse for Congress providing emergency funding for the Ebola and swine flu epidemics, while ignoring an opioid crisis that’s killing a person a day in the Granite State,” said Shaheen.

If you are struggling with opioid addiction, please contact Harmony Foundation. We can help you build the foundation for sustained addiction recovery.

New FDA Commissioner Supports Abuse-Deterrent Opioids

Posted on by Christy Weeks
abuse-deterrent-opioids

It does not matter how someone uses prescription opioids, they can be dangerous and potentially lead to a deadly overdose. However, it could easily be argued that the greatest risk is associated with intravenous (IV) use; opioid addicts will crush their pills, mix the powder with water and inject. In order to combat the use of opioid narcotics in unintended ways, pressure was put on pharmaceutical companies to develop formulations of their painkillers that are harder to abuse – known as abuse-deterrent opioids.

Critics of such efforts argue that harder-to-abuse painkillers are merely a band-aid, and have little effect on the opioid epidemic. While the new formulations are more difficult to use, addicts often find their way around tamper resistors and/or turn heroin as a cheaper, stronger alternative. Nevertheless, such arguments can easily be countered with ‘anything is better than nothing.’

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a new commissioner who has vowed to support abuse-deterrent opioid efforts, the Associated Press reports. Dr. Robert Califf told a panel of FDA advisers that he is pledging to do “everything possible under our authority to prevent abuse, save lives and treat dependence.”

The new commissioner’s declaration is just one facet of an interagency effort to end the American opioid epidemic. However, Califf made clear that the FDA alone cannot resolve the current crisis, according to the article. Since 2010, Califf’s agency has approved five abuse-deterrent opioids, and there is reportedly another 20 such drugs in development. FDA Commissioner Califf plans to work with outside advisers and he has a comprehensive plan for addressing the prescription opioid scourge, which claims as many as 44 lives per day.

He stated that the agency will add more cautionary warning labels to the opioid narcotics prescribed the most, the article reports. What’s more, the FDA will encourage the safe disposal of unused medications, which will prevent narcotics from ending up in the wrong hands.

“What we can do is work with prescribers, professional associations, patient advocates and state and local partners — essentially the entire country — to encourage safe use and disposal of opioid medications,” said Califf. 

If you or a loved one struggles with prescription opioid and/or heroin addiction, please contact Harmony Foundation. We have been helping people break the cycle of addiction for decades, teaching people about the resources needed for a living a life on the road of recovery.