There is a new drug on the horizon that can potentially change the way the world assists drug addicts in getting clean. Doctor Stanley Glick has spent the last twenty years of his life developing a drug known as 18-Methaoxycoronaridine, which has the potential to allow substance abusers to quit cold turkey. The problem is, the drug is in the very early stages of development and has a long way to go. Between approval from the government, as well as translating these results from animal to human, Dr. Glick realizes it is not an immediate breakthrough. Yet, this seems to be the closest any doctor has come to curing drug addiction before.

The experiment has showed great success in rats who are addicted to cocaine, alcohol, nicotine, morphine, meth and sugar. In order to make the rats form an addiction, Dr. Glick cave them cues in order to know it was time to get their fix. After time, they became reliant on these cues, and every time they were heard, it caused a trigger. Situations are similar for humans who are addicted, as a small trigger or cue can tear down months of being substance free. Yet, this drug has shown on these rats that after a few doses, these cues no longer form a need to go and seek out the substance they are addicted to.

While 18-MC opens a door for many substance abusers, there are many skeptics. Dr. John Rotroson believes that “A compound effective for models of opioid addiction, stimulant addiction, alcohol addiction, nicotine addiction and obesity….seems too good to be true,” (buzzfeed.com) and many agree with this notion. Additionally, other substances that have been related to this have shown severe vomiting, intense hallucinations and other serious side effects, although this drug has shown nothing of the sort thus far. While this may be a step in the right direction, the drug is going to take years to be properly tested, in addition to then being approved by the government.

Although this drug seems revolutionary, such an easy solution to addiction will cause many more problems in society today, including the possibility of increased drug use among people. A main factor that stop people from using such drugs are the fact that they are highly addictive, and therefore not worth getting hooked on. While addiction is a serious problem many people face, a breakthrough this big may allow people to forget about the repercussions an addictive drug may have since the user knows there is an easy way out. There is a long way to go before 18-MC is in circulation around the world, but scientific breakthroughs life this allow people to elude to the larger problems society may face in the future in consequence to such medical advancements.