If it is done well and we figure out all the issues, it will be an important addition to the clinical toolbox. In the Yale study, psychiatrist Thomas Kosten found that the cocaine vaccine caused no major side effects. Now he is testing its effectiveness on cocaine addicts at an outpatient clinic. It would be administered every six to nine months, Kosten says. The implications of a vaccine to prevent abuse of a drug like cocaine are tremendous.
Medical historians point to the possibility of court-ordered shots for drug abusers.
And the availability of a medical approach like a vaccine might persuade the public that addiction is actually a disease, not the mark of bad behavior that should be punished. It's all well and good to say they should solve it with willpower, but it is an insidious mechanism that is designed to imprint behavior on an individual. Vaccines, of course, are not the first medical approach to addiction. Critics have undercut its value by deeming it a drug swap. While vaccines can escape that accusation, they do come with baggage.