Albany Medical Center Responds To Richie’s Rat Study Article

I guess I needed to be "schooled" about what's going on at a certain school.  If you possibly read my last posting about Albany Medical Center and their landing on the "Top 10 List of Most Ridiculous Research On Animals" (according to the Times Union), you might find that I probably didn't do enough explaining.  Here was a response to that post 

I wanted to clarify a point made on your website.  The goal of research being conducted at Albany Medical College was mischaracterized on your website.

The ultimate goal of this research is to determine if a new treatment drug under development would mitigate the effects of cues on drug craving and drug seeking behaviors. The research is part of the initial stages of a longer-term research project to find medications that can help diminish drug cravings and promote abstinence in humans.

For context:  Nearly one in four deaths in the US is in some way related to substance abuse issues, costing the American the health care system hundreds of billions of dollars annually and causing significant harm to families in New York and across the country.  The lead scientist involved is a world-renowned scholar seeking to help individuals to control cravings and therefore overcome addictions.

Given the extraordinary financial and human costs inflicted on society by addictive behaviors, I would hope you would include information to help balance your portrayal of this research.

Jeffrey Gordon

Vice President of Communications

Albany Medical Center

Thanks, Jeffrey, for the clarification!