Researchers Are Working On A Fentanyl Vaccine

Hope and fear emerge from the most unexpected places in the opioid epidemic.  When pill mills replaced street corner heroin as the scariest source of opioids, who knew that heroin would make a comeback?  Fentanyl is a terrifyingly efficient killer, but naloxone is equally efficient at saving lives.  After policymakers argued for decades about safe injection sites and methadone clinics accessible only by buses that run only once per hour, along came suboxone, which can be prescribed and ingested just like any other prescription drug.  In other words, there is medication to reverse opioid overdose and medication to prevent opioid withdrawal, but did you know that researchers are developing a fentanyl vaccine?  From a medical standpoint as well as a legal one, the path out of drug addiction is different from how it was a generation ago; if you get drug charges for the first time today, your experience will be very different from that of someone who got drug charges in the 1990s.  The best way to turn a run-in with the law into a fair chance at achieving sobriety is to contact a Florida drug offense attorney.

Can You Be Immune to Fentanyl Addiction?

Researchers at the University of Houston have been experimenting to develop a vaccine that causes patients to develop anti-fentanyl antibodies such that, if they are exposed to fentanyl, it will not reach their brains and cause psychoactive effects.  The researchers found that anti-fentanyl antibodies do not respond to other opioids, so patients who had taken the vaccine would still be able to use other opioids medically for pain management and would be able to take suboxone to manage opioid use disorder.  The results of the study and a discussion of the possible applications of the anti-fentanyl vaccine appear in the current issue of the journal Pharmaceutics.

Can You Be Immune to Prosecution in Drug Cases?

Becoming immune to fentanyl addiction might sound like science fiction, and in fact the vaccine is still several steps away from being clinically available.  Meanwhile, there are clearly established ways to get legal immunity in drug cases, whether the drug in question is fentanyl or something else.  One way is through Good Samaritan laws.  These laws state that, when you call for medical assistance for someone who is suffering an overdose, you cannot get criminal charges for drug possession, even if drugs and drug paraphernalia are present at the scene or you are under the influence of drugs.  Another way that prosecutors grant legal immunity in drug cases is when a defendant in a drug crime case involving conspiracy provides information that helps prosecutors with an ongoing investigation.  Even if prosecutors offer you immunity, you should still seek the guidance of a criminal defense lawyer when communicating with them.

Contact FL Drug Defense Group About Immunity to Drugs and Drug Charges

A Central Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing charges for possession of fentanyl or other illegal drugs.  Contact FL Drug Defense Group in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

fortune.com/well/2022/11/16/vaccine-for-fentanyl-drug-at-the-center-of-the-opioid-crisis/