UCLA researchers identify a potentially effective treatment for methamphetamine addiction

A new study by UCLA researchers has found that Naltrexone, a drug used to treat alcoholism, may also be a promising treatment for addiction to methamphetamine. “The results were about as good as you could hope for,” said Lara Ray, a UCLA associate professor of psychology, director of the UCLA Addictions Laboratory and lead author of the new study. The study, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, was the first in the U.S. to evaluate Naltrexone for treating methamphetamine addiction. Researchers analyzed 22 men and eight women who use methamphetamine an average of three to four days a week. During a four-day hospital stay, each person was each given either Naltrexone — 25 milligrams the first two days, 50 milligrams on days three and four — or a placebo daily. Ten days later, the subjects were readmitted to the hospital for four more days; those who had taken Naltrexone earlier were given placebos, and vice versa. On the last day of each hospital visit, all participants were given intravenous doses of methamphetamine. Three hours later, the researchers asked how they felt and how much they wanted more of the drug. The scientists found that Naltrexone significantly reduced the subjects’ craving for methamphetamine, and that it made them less aroused by methamphetamine: Subjects’ heart rates and pulse readings both were significantly higher when they were given the placebo than when they took Naltrexone. In addition, participants taking Naltrexone had low...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news