Can GLP-1s Cure Addiction? – PureWow – ryan

• Cassie Moore, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Division of Behavioral Biology, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She won a 2024 Young Investigator Award from Cure Addiction Nowa nonprofit funding research into substance use disorder, in order to support her ongoing study evaluating semaglutide for reduction of opiod craving and withdrawal.
• Dr. Howard Samuels is a licensed therapist who founded and was formerly the CEO of The Hills Treatment Center, a substance abuse treatment facility, in Los Angeles. He holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and is a Marriage and Family Therapist, specializing in addiction. Samuels has been clean and sober for 38 years and maintains a private clinical practice in Los Angeles.
• Jamie Winn is a Doctor of Pharmacy and Medical Director at Universal Drugstorean online Canadian drugstore.

This idea of a drug potentially “curing” substance abuse marks a significant departure from longtime treatment orthodoxy which follows the 12-step teachings of Alcoholics Anonymouswhich hasn’t changed its position since the 1930s, when it decreed: “Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it hasn’t done so yet.” So…is this to be believed? I’d have dismissed the report had I not spoken with a pal who has lost a solid 20-plus pounds using a GLP-1. “I believe it,” he told me. “I remember going to the grocery to get a bottle of wine after I started the drug, because I’d heard keeping pre-Ozempic rituals was healthy. I stood for 15 minutes trying to will myself to buy a bottle of wine, but nothing looked good, and then when I got home, I didn’t even want to finish my glass.”

Now, my friend never had addiction issues, so his disinterest in wine wasn’t a big deal to him. But he’s not alone. In 2023, scientists analyzed anecdotal evidence acquired from Reddit to identify whether there might be a link between taking a GLP-1 medication and changes in alcohol drinking. In this study962 individuals made a total of 1,580 alcohol-related posts that included a GLP-1 drug from 2009-2023. The majority (71.7 percent) of the alcohol posts addressed reduced cravings, reduced usage and reduction of other negative effects due to drinking.