beat drug addiction in a similar timeframe. Reading the Mike Mentzer thread again that just got bumped made me sad. Really it's 2015 and we are still stuck with the same old methods for trying to treat drug addiction? With all of modern science and new understandings of the brain and neurochemistry and neurobiology in the last 50 years we are still stuck with the old you gotta want to change "rehab" model? It's just plain sad. There is nothing that can be given to addicts to "immunize" them from the effects of the drugs so no matter whether they use or not they won't get any effect? There is nothing we can do to "rejuvenate" their brains back to a no addict state?
I think we have the technology. It is a goal worthy of spending some serious time, money and effort on, similar to the moon landing. We'd save many times as much on prison and medical costs.
All those lives thrown away. Put Google or Facebook or Amazon in charge of it or something, they get shit done.
The NASA moon landings were possible because NASA was able to tightly control the variables with the rocket flight and crew.
Unless you lock someone in a sealed room , with tightly controlled visitation , it is near impossible to totally monitor human behavior.
Having said that, I did a summer research study as grad asst flunky for a chemistry prof who did research in drug addiction treatment.
We looked t the effects of chemical analogs * ( similar compounds to addictive drugs).
In simple terms, you start with a drug structure VERY similar and then tweek , so the addict eventually weans off the drug.
The area I worked on, was with cocaine addicts.
The initial results with lab mice showed promise , but I have no idea what they are doing with human treatments, now as this was the 1990's.
The reality is that most drug addiction isn't limited to a chemical cause and effect.
That is only true long after the person has been using the substance and built up an addiction on the cellular level.
Most people use drugs and booze to cope with issues , escape reality or get some euphoric effect.
The root cause to START using drugs is more emotional / psychological needs then physical.
Conclusion - There are a lot of dysfunctional people out there along with those who function ok, but need something to cope.
