Promising treatment found for amphetamine addiction

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Finnish researchers have found that a drug used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has potential as a treatment for amphetamine addiction. More extensive research is expected to confirm the results of the study.
      In experimental treatment, which began the summer, the drug was administered to amphetamine abusers alongside psycho-social therapy.
     
"The medicine helped people reduce their use of amphetamine", said Professor Jari Tiihonen of the University of Kuopio, who headed the study.
      "The relative risk of using amphetamine was 50 per cent lower than with those taking a placebo."
     
The promising results were achieved with methylphenidate, which is used in the treatment of ADHD. It is sold in Finland under a number of different brand names, and is known widely in the form Ritalin.
      The goal of the experiment was to find a replacement drug for amphetamine addiction, which would help shake off the dependency. The first medicine that was tried, the anti-psychotic aripiprazole, was found to have been as ineffective as the placebo.
      Methylphenidate, meanwhile, reduced the use of amphetamines by 6 to 33 per cent.
     
Tiihonen feels that replacing one addiction with another is sensible in this case, because less brain damage is caused by the replacement drug. Also, there is a reduction in the health risks linked with intravenous drug use, such as the spread of hepatitis. Replacement therapy can also reduce crime.
      Despite the initial promising results, more evidence will be needed before the new treatment is established. Further research has started in Helsinki and Turku, with results expected within a few years.


Links:
  Methylphenidate (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat