GLP-1s for Reducing Addiction: Everything you need to know

Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy, and Zepbound for substance use disorders: a comprehensive guide to the science, medicine, patient stories, provider experiences, policy, and more.

GLP-1s are a Breakthrough for Reducing Cravings and Substance Use

Our organization, CASPR, is devoted to advancing novel treatments that can solve addiction at a population scale.  

We believe GLP-1s are the biggest breakthrough in addiction medicine in 50 years. These medications, like Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy, and Zepbound were first developed to treat diabetes. Studies has since shown that they can dramatically reduce craving and consumption of food as well as drugs, alcohol, and even compulsive behaviors like gambling.

This page brings together CASPR’s reporting and policy work on GLP-1s for addiction, and will be kept up to date to serve as an ongoing resource.

We are continuing to write about GLP-1s for addiction every week, so please subscribe below (it’s totally free) to get more news and research by email.

The scientific and medical evidence

We’ve written the most comprehensive review anywhere of the medical and scientific evidence on GLP-1s and addiction:

⚕️ GLP-1s for Addiction: the Medical Evidence for Opioid, Nicotine, and Alcohol Use Disorder

We update this article regularly as new research is published. Links to key sections:

• Human Studies on GLP-1 and Addiction

• GLP-1RAs Are Uniquely Compelling for Addiction Treatment

• Surveys and Reports from Providers and Patients

• Positive and Holistic Mental Health Effects of GLP-1s

Doctors who are prescribing GLP-1s for addiction

Physicians and addiction medicine centers are beginning to prescribe GLP-1RAs off-label for alcohol and opioid addictions. Providers report dramatic results in their patients.

🩺 How an addiction medicine doctor has made GLP-1s like Ozempic central to his practice

🩺 An addiction medicine doctor who used tirzepatide to transform his own life, and translate that experience to benefit his patients.

Patient Stories

Patients have, in overwhelming numbers, reported amazing stories of cravings and addictions disappearing when they begin Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy, or Zepbound.

🧠 A Fortune 50 executive: “Wegovy rewired my brain. I have no desire for cigarettes and minimal desire for alcohol.”

🛡️A British tech worker: "The change was immediate: I lost all desire to drink alcohol on Mounjaro."

🧃 Michelle: “On Mounjaro, my daily alcohol cravings are gone. Now I just drink one, 8.4-ounce can of Red Bull a day.”

💫 Sherry: “It was an immediate obliteration of alcohol and opioid cravings.”

🎉 Melissa: “Overnight, the alcohol noise was gone.”

🙌 27 patients describe how Ozempic and Mounjaro reduced their urge to drink alcohol

Patient Communities

🦊 Dryzempic: for people using GLP-1s to reduce drinking (reddit).

🦊 GLP-1 Recovery: for people using GLP-1s to reduce addictions of any kind (reddit).

Public Health and Policy

🧑🏽‍⚕️ GRACE for OUD: Proposing a new GLP-1 based harm reduction strategy

👩🏻‍⚕️ GRACE for AUD: Proposing GLP-1-based alcohol treatment initiation in the ED

📈 To Solve the Addiction Crisis, We Need Strategies That Scale

🩺 A coalition for large scale clinical trials of GLP-1RAs for addiction

📈 10 charts about why we haven't solved addiction and how GLP-1s can help

Podcast Episode

🎤 Podcast episode with Chris Hayes on GLP-1s and addiction

How You Can Help

• Share this page with colleagues, family, friends, doctors, and medical providers.

• Subscribe below, if you haven’t already (it’s free).

• If you’d like to donate to support our work, you can donate here. Donations are tax-deductible.

• If you are a researcher and are interested in collaboration, please be in touch.