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Adding Capsaicin Improves Anesthetic Treatment
eldavojohn writes "It's no secret what capsaicin, the fiery molecule of peppers, does to cell walls. In fact, it's now being used to open cells up to local anesthetics. Combine it with a new drug that works only from the insides of cells and you have a great system for relieving pain. From the article, 'QX-314 is known to reduce the activity of pain-sensing neurons in the nervous system and theoretically heighten pain thresholds. But there's a catch: Researchers found that "it wouldn't work from outside a nerve cell but it would work if you could get it inside," says Bruce Bean, a professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the new study."
1. QX-314 blocks all neurons.
2. QX-314 only works if you can get it inside the neuron cell itself.
3. Capsaicin opens a channel on only pain neurons that will let QX-314 through.
Sounds like a plan... except for one thing. Capsaicin come out just as hot as it goes in. Add to that the constipation that opiates cause and you are talking about an excruciating bowel movement.
Cool art gallery, if you're into that sort of thing.
Yeah, those "addicts" out there will do a bit for their drug of choice, but they're not going to snort some sadistically formulated pill, if that's what you're thinking.
They're just going to take whatever other prescription opiate is most available at the time. And others will just find a way around capsaicin and any other measure devised by those who'd waste their talents devising ways of preventing other people from taking pills of their own volition.
It's a war that can't be won, nor does it deserve to be. It's wrong-headed and truly hateful towards freedom.