In September, Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), co-authored a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that semaglutide (known under the trade names Ozempic and Wegovy) reduced overdose risk among people with type 2 diabetes and opioid dependence. Last month, another study published in the journal Addiction illustrates similar findings: medications like Ozempic were associated with lower rates of opioid overdose among people with opioid use disorder and lower rates of alcohol use among people with alcohol abuse. In other words, these preliminary data revealed the potential of taking Ozempic prevent overdose deaths and reduce drug use.

For the past two years, there has been buzz around the “wonder drug” Ozempic — a medication in the class known as GLP-1 receptor agonists — from clickbait celebrity gossip sites to the front pages of leading medical journals. The ability of these medications to reduce weight, fight diabetes, even reduce the number of deaths from cardiovascular disease, has been well researched.

But Ozempic’s effectiveness appears to extend beyond the realm of cardiometabolic disease and into the realm of addiction medicine. Volkow’s study adds to a growing body scientific and anecdotal evidence that GLP-1 medications can reduce cravings among people with substance abuse disorders, e.g alcohol, tobacco, opioids, cannabis and stimulants. In addition to increasing the release of insulin and slowing gastric emptying, GLP-1 analogs are thought to affect the brain’s reward circuitswhich leads to fewer suctions and reduced use.

As an internal medicine resident and medical historian focused on addiction, I believe these data represent a huge breakthrough in addiction treatment. It can also be the medication that provides treatment for addiction – historically speaking sieved from general practice — to regular medicine.

A handful of my primary care patients have made comments like what J. Paul Grayson, a patient taking Ozempic for obesity, reported to NPR last year: “Before Ozempic, I could drink a whole bottle of wine in one night without really trying too hard… But with Ozempic, even a beer didn’t feel good to me in any way.” Many patients simply do not crave substances the way they used to.

Fatal overdoses, especially from fentanyl, continue to be leading cause of death among people aged 18 to 45 in the United States, deaths from suicide and car accidents exceed. Although much of the information regarding the relationship between Ozempic and reduced substance use requires further investigation, healthcare providers should not wait for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of these medications before prescribing them. If a patient has obesity or type 2 diabetes and a substance abuse disorder, providers can and should begin prescribing GLP-1 agonists “off-label” as a form of addiction treatment.

If a patient has an abuse disorder and another indication for a GLP-1 analog, providers—and patients themselves—should advocate for their use. As Dr. Kenneth Morford, an addiction medicine physician and assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine, told me, “If a patient qualifies for a drug like semaglutide and happens to have an addiction disorder with no contraindication to the drug, we have nothing to lose. Why don’t we try the?”

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Obtaining FDA approval for GLP-1 analogs with the specific indication for the treatment of, for example, alcohol abuse will take years. The ongoing extreme lacks of medications such as Ozempic can worsen the delay even more. While some randomized clinical trials have been done completeddozens more are just beginning to recruit participants with substance use disorders ranging from cocaine to opioids. Leaders at NIDA such as Volkow – who have called this data “very, very exciting” — and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) is allocating more funding to addiction researchers on this topic.

But in the meantime, young people are dying. Patients and caregivers are running out of time to search for potential answers.

Healthcare providers have prescribed GLP-1 analogues for the treatment of type 2 diabetes last decade. Due to increased demand for medications such as Ozempic, providers in general practice have become increasingly familiar with how to prescribe these medications. Largely because of stigma and failure to train doctorsMany primary care physicians view addiction treatment as outside their scope of practice.

Many medications used to treat addiction are extremely difficult to access. Methadone, one of them most effective medications for opioid addiction, can only be accessed through special clinics due to federal regulations carried by President Richard Nixon’s war on drugs. Buprenorphine (commonly known under the brand name Suboxone) is more widely available than methadone and available in primary care. In 2023, buprenorphine became even easier to prescribe, but primary care is still doubtful to start writing it, likely due to fear and stigma.

It’s just opioids. Although 29 million people in the United States have an alcohol use disorder, less than nine percent of patients with alcohol abuse are prescribed some medication. Stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine pose an even greater problem. Experts are now characterizing deaths associated with overdose of stimulants as one “fourth wave” of our overdose crisis. There is get some meds which have been shown to reduce the use of stimulants. Ozempic may be the first medication to meaningfully treat stimulant addiction.

Ozempic offers a great opportunity to get providers on board who might not otherwise be comfortable prescribing anti-addiction medications. Unlike some of the other medications used to treat addiction, GLP-1 analogs are not controlled substances, which has the potential for abuse and partly explains providers’ discomfort with prescribing.

Our overdose crisis and lack of access to addiction treatment are urgent issues that endanger thousands of young, healthy individuals. The medical community’s discrimination against people who use drugs has weakened human access to care in general medical settings. GLP-1 analogs have the potential to bridge this historical gap and treat multiple addictions simultaneously. Healthcare providers may not wait for FDA approval to prescribe GLP-1 analogs to patients who are currently eligible due to comorbid conditions. We must respond to our overdose epidemic in innovative ways, using all the tools at our disposal. This now includes GLP-1 analogues.