A vaccine with no legitimate medical use might give anyone
pause, which is good, because a pause is exactly what is needed
with the latest anti-drug scheme, an unprecedented, 1984-esque
vaccination against drug-induced pleasure. Pharmaceutical
corporations are currently developing ‘vaccines’ that prevent
‘euphoria’ from drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and nicotine, and a
government-convened panel of scientists in the UK is considering ‘a
radical scheme:’ the vaccination of children against such euphoria.
Though these scientists stress the vaccine will be used only on
children that are ‘at risk’ for drug abuse, they did not specify
what criteria will be used to determine such a fundamentally
arbitrary designation.
Vaccines work on the principal that the diseases they prevent
are patently undesirable: no one in their right mind would actually
want to contract polio, meningitis, or tetanus. Moreover, vaccines
are mainly used against contagious diseases whose spread could be
significantly checked by wholesale vaccination. The logic of
vaccination is simply to keep everyone safe from something that
nobody wants. Anti-drug vaccination, however, differs from this
very legitimate medical practice in several crucial ways. First of
all, some people, even knowing the risks involved, might want to
experience the euphoria that addictive drugs can provide. The
undesirability of recreational drugs effects, then, cannot be
assumed for the vaccine’s recipient. Moreover, these recreational
drugs act on the very same neurological mechanisms that regulate
natural feelings of euphoria, meaning that anti-drug vaccines may
easily remove a person’s capability to experience any kind of high,
drug-induced or otherwise. The alterations made to the brain by
such vaccines would be irreversible, posing a serious threat
against the recipient’s individual freedoms and mental health.
Additionally, heroin belongs to the opiate family, which is used
for legitimate pain-relief purposes. A vaccine that blocks the
effects of heroin may also block the effects of prescribed
pain-killers, providing doctors and patients with fewer resources
in the fight against pain.
Drug addiction is certainly a problem, and informed adults have
the right to take an anti-euphoria vaccine if they so desire. But
the widespread encouragement of such vaccines goes well beyond
issues of public health; it extends into the realm of outright mind
control. Moreover, there are already numerous legitimate resources
for the treatment of drug addiction, many of which could benefit
from more funding and more attention. It has long been the stuff of
dystopian science fiction, but a society in which pleasure is
government-regulated is now becoming alarmingly more
plausible.
— Brendan Themes
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