BY: QUENTIN STUCKEY
It is a primal human desire to want to alter our consciousness through the use of substances, but when one becomes dependent on said substance that is when trouble ensues. In the past, we have thought of addiction as a flaw in someone’s personality; an affliction that resulted from a lack of self control on the part of the abuser. Addicts are dismissed repeatedly as a lost cause, vile people and the dregs of a society that is ironically ill-prepared to treat drug addiction the way it ought to be treated: as a disease.
Addiction typically begins as a way to medicate a form of emotional and/or physical pain. According to an article published by LiveScience, it is estimated that 20 per cent of Americans who suffer from chronic physical pain receive a prescription for opium, one of the most addictive substances in the world. New research has been brought to light into treatment options for those suffering from chronic pain without the need for an opium prescription.
Two different groups of medical researchers have managed to develop a new kind of drug that bears similarities to marijuana but without the psychedelic effects on the mind and body. 
Marijuana has often been administered to patients due to the THC compound of the drug providing pain relief, however with some unwanted side effects including the potential for addiction. A neuroscience professor at Indiana University named Andrea Hohmann is the leading member on one of the research teams. Hohmann has managed to create a compound known as “positive allosteric modulator” which, when taken, binds to a cannabinoid receptor in the brain providing pain relief with none of the psychedelic effects of marijuana.
The only drawback to Hohmann’s impressive research is the inability for the compound to bind to other brain receptors. In the second team of researchers, Jason Clapper, a scientist at Abide Therapeutics, created a compound that managed to release the brain’s natural cannabinoid receptors providing the expected pain relief but on a wider basis. The researchers have managed to create compounds that mimic the pain relieving effects of marijuana but without any dependence; clearly a better prescription than opium.
Further research is required as the experiments were conducted on lab rats, however this exciting research could bring an end to the opium addiction epidemic in the United States. Pain has a right to be safely medicated but a full fledged addiction to a substance just leads to further pain. It is time to end the stigma surrounding addiction and create safer alternatives to pain relief without the possibility of dependence. The goal should be to help those suffering from a form of pain through healthier alternatives, not to shrug our shoulders and merely say “they’ll get what’s coming to them.” Any amount of prevention is the key.
