The new treatments are immunotherapies and sustained-release medications. Still in the theoretical and testing stages, these new therapies would last longer than current anti-addiction medications and interact with drugs before they have a chance to reach the brain. In some cases, the effect might be similar to an anti-drug “vaccination” or a way to treat addiction as a long-term, manageable illness.

At the very least, the therapies “will require the historically separate systems of medical care and addiction treatment to forge new partnerships to ensure that both medication and integrated psychosocial services are available to those in need,” according to report editors Henrick J. Harwood and Tracy G. Myers, Ph.D.

But could these new treatments find an off-label use by parents who want to inoculate their children against drug addiction? Would they be prescribed to pregnant women as a preventive medicine? Could they be administered to incarcerated individuals? The report, “New Treatments for Addiction: Behavioral, Ethical, Legal, and Social Questions,” recommends that the National Institute of Drug Abuse begin immediate funding of research to study these and other issues.

For instance, the treatments may leave long-term markers in the blood that could be used to identify people who may have received the treatment in the past but are now drug-free. The markers could make addicts reluctant to seek the treatment out of fear of future employment and health insurance discrimination.

The report also suggests the possibility that drug use might become more common once these treatments are available, since they could make the effects of drugs seem more manageable and less life-threatening. The treatments could also reduce the number of current abusers so drastically that drug dealers would aggressively pursue new clients, the report notes.

To read the report, “New Treatments for Addiction: Behavioral, Ethical, Legal and Social Questions,” go here.