SoylentNews

AnonTechie [soylentnews.org] writes:

Inside the quest to conquer addictive drugs.

Opioid addiction can be seen as an infinite loop, a bug in the brain's programming. Take drug. Feel better. Come down. Repeat. Of the people who use opioid drugs recreationally, between 8 and 23 percent become addicted-sometimes fatally. That's true whether the opioid drug is strictly prohibited, such as heroin, or a prescription painkiller that people use illegally, such as OxyContin or Vicodin. A smaller proportion of people who take prescription painkillers get hooked- less than 1 percent of people with no prior history of addiction.

http://nautil.us/issue/12/feedback/building-the-pe rfect-painkiller [nautil.us]

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