New Hope For Treating Meth Addiction In Study Results : Shots - Health News - NPR

Researchers have found that a combination of two medications is effective at treating meth addiction.

Unlike opioid addiction, for which medication-assisted treatment is the standard of care, no medication has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use with meth.

Madhukar Trivedi at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, says the findings were strong enough to give new hope to people struggling with meth use disorder.

"Patients who are struggling with meth use disorder should definitely have a conversation with their treating physicians to consider whether this option is something they should try," Trivedi said in a statement.

Lara Ray, a psychologist who studies medical treatments for addiction at UCLA and was not involved with this research, says the study changes the treatment landscape for roughly 1.6 million Americans who are addicted to methamphetamines.

Naltrexone, which is already used for treating opioid addiction, blocks opioid receptors in the brain and is proven to reduce cravings in some patients.

This new medical treatment strategy arrives at a time when meth addiction has come roaring back, fueled by cheap imports from Mexico.

He added that lack of medical treatments for those addicted to meth has complicated efforts to curb demand for the drug.

She says when she started her recovery, it was hard in part because there were no medical treatments to help with cravings and withdrawal

I just wonder why we haven't researched [treatments for] this drug yet," she says

Martinez says she's hopeful more of her clients will now be able to get medical treatment for their meth addiction, rather than wind up caught in the criminal justice system