World News  New Anti-Cocaine Vaccine Passes Key Test
Researchers in the United States report they have made important
progress on a new anti-cocaine vaccine.  In laboratory tests
with non-human primates, the scientists used a radiological
tracking technique to confirm the result of earlier tests with
mice -- that the vaccine prevented cocaine molecules from
reaching the brain and triggering a dopamine-induced high. The
successful primate test means human clinical trials could begin
within a year.  According to Dr. Ronald Crystal, the lead
researcher and chairman of the Department of Genetic Medicine at
Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, the vaccine "eats up
the cocaine in the blood like a little Pac-man (video-game
character) before it can reach the brain."  Cocaine -- a
stimulant derived from the leaves of the coca plant -- produces
feelings of ecstasy because it blocks the normal recycling of a
brain chemical called dopamine. Dopamine is the body's pleasure
neurotransmitter, providing important sens