The research is in, Nichole Lee's study 'Medication treatment options for amphetamine-type stimulant users' has been released and the results may surprise you.
In recent years, considerable attention has been focused on developing effective psychosocial interventions for young people using methamphetamines and psychological interventions are currently the treatment of choice. Yet, despite the effectiveness of these approaches, disengagement from treatment and relapse rates are high.
This has prompted a strong interest in the possibility that medications may play a role in helping young people cope with methamphetamine cravings, withdrawal and relapse prevention.
So far no medications have been found to be effective enough for widespread use.
This review of the research to date was designed to point out medicines that show promise and warrant more investigation and those that have been clearly shown to be unsafe.
You can read a summary of the findings here.
Perhaps most of interest to workers on the ground is the finding that there is no evidence for using benzodiazepines (ie: valium / diazepam & temazepam) to help young people with sleep or agitation during withdrawal, even though these medicines are commonly recommended in clinical guidelines.
