Do GLP-1s curb drug and alcohol addiction?
asserted
GLP-1s → curb → addiction
And if they do, can they also help curb crime, homelessness and even child abuse and neglect?
asserted
they → do → crime
A new $13 million clinical trial announced this week may start to answer these questions.
uncertain
trial → announce → questions
With support from the Arnold Foundation, the Center for Addiction Science, Policy and Research (CASPR) and the Allegheny County Department of Human Services are launching a randomized controlled trial to test whether weekly injection of Ozempic or Wegovy, in addition to regular care, “can reduce alcohol and opioid use and reduce criminal-justice involvement while improving employment, health, and housing outcomes among people at elevated risk of criminal-justice involvement.
asserted
injection → launch → involvement
It sounds like a tall order, but experts believe that GLP-1 drugs present the best hope in a long time to curb cravings for alcohol and drugs among chronic addicts.
asserted
drugs → sound → addicts
These medications have several advantages.
asserted
medications → have → advantages
First, they are long lasting.
asserted
they → last → ?
It is easier to get people to decide to take a shot once a week, than to take methadone every day or to take naltrexone each time they are going to drink.
asserted
they → get → naltrexone
And GLP-1s don’t have the potential to be abused so they can be administered without the help of a medical professional.
asserted
they → have → professional
They have shown promise even with addictions for which we have no other medication available, like cocaine.
asserted
we → show → cocaine
The side effects of these drugs are mostly positive — including, weight loss, combating diabetes, lowering cholesterol, and reducing inflammation.
asserted
effects → include → inflammation
The truth is that we don’t have many long-term solutions for people suffering from addiction.
asserted
we → have → addiction
Indeed, thanks to Obamacare it is very easy to get stays in detox programs paid for by the federal government — to the point that there is widespread fraud in the industry.
asserted
it → get → industry
But curbing alcohol and drug addiction often requires a complete lifestyle change.
asserted
curbing → curb → change
And if the addiction is so bad that people are regularly involved with the criminal-justice or the child-welfare system, they have probably already tried other solutions.
asserted
they → involve → solutions
Sadly, our approach to addiction is lacking both support and accountability.
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approach → lack → support
The harm reduction model — in which we offer people clean needles, medical care and housing while which waiting for them to wake up and decide to get clean — has failed.
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them → offer → needles
It has left men and women homeless, unemployed, and dead.
asserted
It → leave → men
And it has left children suffering from maltreatment or without parents at all.
asserted
it → leave → parents
Especially if addicts are committing crimes or not caring for their kids we need to intervene in their lives and force them into treatment — either with the threat of incarceration or possibly removing their children.
uncertain
we → commit → children
Addicts do respond to incentives.
asserted
Addicts → respond → incentives
But they have a much harder time responding to those incentives when the cravings are getting in the way.
asserted
cravings → have → way
That’s why the GLP-1 findings are so exciting.
asserted
findings → ’ → ?
Eliminating the cravings could help the patients respond to the incentives we already have in place.
uncertain
we → eliminate → place
CASPR ran a pilot program in Providence, RI, with these medications and found significant success.
asserted
CASPR → run → success
One mother, Jessica Massarone, had been using cocaine and opioids for more than a decade.
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mother → use → decade
Her three children had been removed to foster care.
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children → remove → care
Thanks to GLP-1s, she told the Boston Globe, she no longer had the same urges.
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she → tell → urges
The shot has “helped her navigate a minefield of daily triggers, including walking to work at a Subway shop through the same parking lot where she once met dealers and got high.”
Now, after almost two years sober, she is working on her relationships with her three children and their adoptive parents.
asserted
she → help → children
“The medication has changed everything, every single thing,” she said.
asserted
she → change → everything
Nicholas Reville, the head of CASPR, explains that “rather than feeling dragged down by cravings, whether it’s for sugar, alcohol, or drugs, GLP-1s help quiet that noise for many people.”
asserted
GLP-1s → explain → people
He believes that “research on [GLP-1s] and addiction show that they can often help restore personal agency.”
asserted
they → believe → agency
And when people are in control, they can make better decisions for themselves and their families.
asserted
they → make → themselves
The Aporia
