FDA Approves Brain Stimulation Device To Curb Opioid Withdrawal
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has put its stamp of approval on a brain stimulation device to curb opioid withdrawal and drug cravings. This bizarre little mechanism looks as though it was engineered with a little old school stoner ingenuity in the back room of a Radio Shack. And it is the government’s first offering in the realm of technological rehab.
Futuristic Technological Rehab
That’s right, kids. It won’t be long before addicts on the mend no longer have to suffer withdrawals when trying to recover. No more stomach cramps, cold sweats or explosive diarrhea!
A team of scientists at Innovative Health Solutions created the NSS-2 Bridge Device. It’s a brain stimulation device to curb opioid withdrawal. To put it simply, it’s a mild form of shock therapy. And they say it can trick the addict brain not to experience the first wave of opioid withdrawal.
The creators say the device can reduce the creepy crawlies of a craving in as little as 10 minutes. However, there are still no guarantees that it will get recovering addicts through the nightmare unscathed.
In fact, the FDA is only willing to go out on a limb to say the device “may provide relief from opioid withdrawal symptoms.”
The entire scope of the federal government remains confused about how to pull the nation out of the trenches of the catastrophic opioid crisis. And so the leading pharmaceutical regulator seems desperate to give these types of rehab devices permission to hit the market.
The FDA Has Spoken
The agency says it is willing to do whatever is necessary to keep the nation out of the gutter.
“Given the scope of the epidemic of opioid addiction, we need to find innovative new ways to help those currently addicted live lives of sobriety with the assistance of medically assisted treatment. There are three approved drugs for helping treat opioid addiction. While we continue to pursue better medicines for the treatment of opioid use disorder, we also need to look to devices that can assist in this therapy,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement.
But does this device actually work?
To answer that question, the FDA points to a telling clinical study. The study consisted of more than 70 patients going through a physical sickness as a result of opioid addiction. The Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale (COWS) is a standard assessment tool in the healthcare profession. Using this, researchers discovered that around 30 percent of patients experienced a decrease in the severity of their withdrawal symptoms. Within just 30 minutes.
After wearing the NSS-2 for five days—the device’s maximum duration of effectiveness—the majority of the patients (88 percent) then went on to medication-assisted therapy. However, some of them still needed medications to help control nausea and vomiting.
It is difficult to comprehend the United States government’s lust for Big Pharma. And now, it’s become such a torrid love affair that we are now leaning on electronic devices to curb opioid addiction. We should be exploring natural therapies, specifically marijuana.
Final Hit: FDA Approves Brain Stimulation Device to Curb Opioid Withdrawal
In the release announcing the NSS-2 Bridge Device, FDA Commissioner Gottlieb made a statement. He said the agency “is committed to supporting the development of novel treatments, both drugs and devices, that can be used to address opioid dependence or addiction, as well as new, non-addictive treatments for pain that can serve as alternatives to opioids.”
Several studies have shown that medical marijuana could be a “non-addictive alternative” to opioids.
But the federal government needs to remove it from its Schedule I listing on the Controlled Substances Act. Until then, they will not even consider the cannabis plant as part of the solution. It seems that they would prefer a brain stimulation device to curb opioid withdrawal.
The post FDA Approves Brain Stimulation Device To Curb Opioid Withdrawal appeared first on High Times.
