Angela Garcia, Anthropology Now author, wrote an op-ed in LA Times on anti-addiction vaccines:

My aunt Marion is in the hospital dying of liver and kidney failure, the result of her 20-year struggle with heroin use. I was told of her imminent death the same day news broke about a vaccine against the drug. "Breakthrough heroin vaccine could render drug 'useless' in addicts," one headline read. "Scientists create vaccine against heroin high," proclaimed another.

Meanwhile, my aunt finds temporary relief in the ever more frequent administration of opiate pain medication — the very kind of drugs she used illegally.

The idea of an anti-addiction vaccine is not new. For nearly 40 years scientists have been working on vaccines against all kinds of addictions, including nicotine, marijuana and alcohol. There are even trials of vaccines to prevent obesity. None of the anti-addiction vaccines has yet received Food and Drug Administration approval, however, and most of the studies are still in their early stages.

Read the rest here:

Heroin vaccine won't 'cure' what ails addicts
By Angela Garcia
April 15, 2012

“In Japanese culture, there’s a sort of nobility in suffering with a stiff upper lip, in mustering the spiritual, psychological resources internally,” said John Nelson, a cultural anthropologist and chairman of the department of theology and religion at the University of San Francisco.

“There’s even a word for quietly enduring difficult situations: Gaman.”

Read the rest at the National Post.

John Nelson also spoke to USA Today about faith and pray:

Just as Americans flooded into their churches and synagogues, turning to God in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the Japanese, too, turn to their gods in times of trouble, says Nelson.

They are praying for repose, for the spirit of the dead to find peace and comfort in the Pure Land — a kind of Buddhist paradise.

They pray to Amida, the Buddha in the Pure Land, and to Kannon, the bodhisattva (goddess) of compassion who is an intermediary with Amida.

They will pray, “Praise to the Buddha of the Pure Land.” Or, “Help me, Kannon (goddess of compassio). Save me. Bring me food. Make me warm.”

And like people everywhere, Nelson says,

They will pray for miracles.