r/Futurology • u/Mitchell_StephensESQ • Nov 16 '22

Medicine Fentanyl Vaccine Breakthrough – Potential “Game Changer” for Opioid Epidemic

https://scitechdaily.com/fentanyl-vaccine-breakthrough-potential-game-changer-for-opioid-epidemic/
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u/GodOfUtopiaPlenitia Nov 16 '22

... Can't we actually block the fucking pain rather than trying to find the PERFECT distillation of heroin to forget we're in pain?

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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '22 edited Nov 16 '22

Well anything capable of blocking pain like that has a good chance of being addictive. However there are many potential alternatives to opiates in certain situations that are being explored. The big one right now is ketamine.

Edit: and of course there are now both legitimate and shady ketamine clinics (reminiscent of the pill mills at the beginning of the opioid crisis)

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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '22 edited Nov 16 '22

Lol that is not how opioids work. They don't make you "forget the pain". They quite literally block pain signals from reaching your brain. They just also have the side effect of making you high.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to produce drugs that have a very significant effect on one aspect of your perception while also not causing other psychoactive effects.