Drug abuse is a major problem around the world. Organizations and governments try their best to solve this problem, and free a portion of their respective population from suffering under substance use disorder. One of the ways that they do this is by creating rehabilitation programs. But it doesn’t mean that a person who has undergone rehab is already out of the woods, as he could experience drug relapse. But maybe with this new method, we could finally make things easier for the former drug user.
"The most difficult part of treating addiction is to prevent relapse, especially for opioids," explains Xiaoke Chen, an associate professor at Stanford University's School of Humanities and Sciences and lead for a new study."To prevent relapse, we really need to deal with the withdrawal."
According to Chen, both the reward of the high and the alleviation of agonizing withdrawal symptoms can serve as memory cues that trigger the drug cravings that lead to relapse. Because of this, he and his team have taken a look at drug addiction as a memory problem.
The method, which had been tested among mice, involves erasing drug-associated memories. This method proved to be promising on mice who became dependent on morphine.
More details about this over at Big Think.
What are your thoughts about this one?
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