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They wanted to know whether a drug that quiets the urge to drink might also quiet the urge that leads people to violence.<\/p>\n
GLP-1 drugs ease many cravings<\/p>\n
GLP-1 medications are sold as Ozempic<\/a> and Wegovy, and prescribed mostly for diabetes and obesity. <\/p>\n Over a few short years, doctors and patients noticed the injections seemed to dial down far more than appetite.<\/p>\n One trial<\/a> found that a low dose cut drinking and cravings in adults with alcohol problems. <\/p>\n Other reports tied the medications to less smoking and weaker compulsive urges.<\/p>\n Data from a national survey<\/p>\n Dr. Daniel C. Semenza is a criminologist at Rutgers University<\/a> who directs research at New Jersey\u2019s gun violence research center.<\/p>\n In collaboration with his colleague Christopher Thomas, Dr. Semenza turned to a 2025 survey built to mirror the adult U.S. population \u2013 with 7,521 people answering questions about their health and habits. <\/p>\n Within that data, 821 individuals had used a GLP-1 drug at some point. About 600 were still taking the medication, and roughly 220 had stopped. <\/p>\n The survey asked people to report their own violent behavior over the past year. This included fighting, assault, and robbery. <\/p>\n The questions also gauged impulsivity and how much each person drank \u2013 two factors that are linked to violence.<\/p>\n Impulsive violence drops among GLP-1 users<\/p>\n Among former GLP-1 users, the old rule held. People who scored high on impulsivity, or who drank heavily, reported far more violence \u2013 just as generations of research predicted.<\/p>\n Switch to people currently on the drug and that link weakens. <\/p>\n Impulsivity\u2019s pull toward violence was about 62 percent weaker than in the group that had stopped taking the medication, the largest effect the researchers found.<\/p>\n Two things were already known. Impulsive people commit more violent crime<\/a>, and GLP-1 drugs calm cravings. Nobody had joined those facts to see what happened to violence. <\/p>\n \u201cAmong current users, those relationships were much less pronounced,\u201d Semenza said. <\/p>\n Former users showed the textbook tie between impulsive, hard-drinking people and violence. Current users barely showed it.<\/p>\n The drinking effect<\/p>\n Alcohol told a similar story, but with more static. The link between heavy drinking and violence ran about 52 percent weaker among current users, a real drop at first glance.<\/p>\n The researchers ran additional analyses to see whether the findings would survive stricter testing. The impulsivity result did. <\/p>\n The drinking result was less consistent, showing up in some models but disappearing in others.<\/p>\n Even the softer signal fits a growing body of work. One large study<\/a> tracking people for years found fewer alcohol-related hospital visits while they used a GLP-1 drug. <\/p>\n The new paper hints the effect may extend to violence, and not just personal drinking.<\/p>\n Calming the brain\u2019s reward system<\/p>\n Why would a weight-loss drug have an effect on violence?<\/p>\n The drug latches onto receptors in brain areas involved in reward, motivation, and the brakes on rash action.<\/p>\n A systematic review<\/a> suggests these drugs quiet parts of the brain\u2019s reward system involved in craving and motivation. <\/p>\n Researchers think that effect could extend beyond food and alcohol. If the brain becomes less reactive to urges, the path from impulse to action may weaken as well.<\/p>\n Thomas likened the effect to cognitive behavioral therapy, the talk therapy that teaches people to notice an urge and pause before acting. <\/p>\n The drug seems to weaken the path from impulse to action \u2013 not the impulse itself.<\/p>\n A pattern, but not proof<\/p>\n The study has some limitations. It captured one moment in time, with no way to follow people as they started or stopped the drug.<\/p>\n That design can spot a pattern, but cannot prove a cause. The people who stay on these drugs may differ in ways the survey never caught, such as in temperament.<\/p>\n Self-reported violence is never a clean record, and that is what the survey relied on. <\/p>\n Further research is needed to track users over time \u2013 ideally in trials that include the time before and after GLP-1 drugs are used.<\/p>\n Where this goes next<\/p>\n For the first time, researchers have evidence that people on a GLP-1<\/a> drug show a far weaker link between impulsivity and violence than similar people who have stopped.<\/p>\n The implications extend well beyond weight and blood sugar. Millions already take these medications, and the findings raise new questions about how they affect impulse control and behavior. <\/p>\n That does not mean doctors will start prescribing them to prevent violence, and the researchers are not suggesting they should. <\/p>\n What the study offers instead is an unexpected connection between medicine and criminology \u2013 one that now needs to be tested with stronger evidence.<\/p>\n The study is published in the journal Criminology<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter<\/a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.<\/p>\n Check us out on EarthSnap<\/a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls<\/a> and Earth.com.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People on GLP-1 weight-loss drugs keep reporting the same side effects. The pull toward a second drink fades,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[163,85,46,482],"class_list":["post-504266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}