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Pharmacotherapies to reduce stimulant use
Summary of the evidence
Pharmacotherapies were found in a systematic review of reviews (Ronsley et al., 2020, 29 systematic reviews examining eleven intervention modalities) to have no effect in:
- reducing stimulant use
- improving abstinence
The pharmacotherapies evaluated are:
- antidepressants
- disulfiram
- dopamine agonists
- antipsychotics
- anticonvulsants - with a focus on Topimarate
- opioid agonists
- N-acetylcysteine
Treatment with psychostimulants was found to have promising results and warrants further investigation (see separate entry).
Population characteristics of the included reviews showed a higher proportion of males in most studies, and predominantly cocaine users, with few studies focusing on methamphetamine use or stimulant use more broadly.
