But there are no medications approved<\/a> anywhere in the world to treat meth dependence.<\/p>\n Now, a cheap, safe, and readily available medicine that has been used to treat depression<\/a> for years is showing promise. Our trial of mirtazapine, just published in JAMA Psychiatry<\/a>, shows people who take it cut back their meth use.<\/p>\n Few other options<\/p>\n Australia has one of the highest numbers<\/a> of people dependent on meth per capita worldwide.<\/p>\n As there are no medications<\/a> approved for meth dependence anywhere in the world, we have few treatment options.<\/p>\n Currently available treatment options include counseling, detox or withdrawal, and long-stay residential rehabilitation. However, access can be difficult<\/a>, and treatment dropout rates are high<\/a>. Most people who go to rehab relapse<\/a>.<\/p>\n More sophisticated treatments offered within the community, such as contingency management, which involves setting targets and rewards for meeting them, are more effective<\/a> but aren’t widely available.<\/p>\n Even though there are no approved medications for methamphetamine use, doctors sometimes prescribe existing medications that have shown promise<\/a> in clinical trials<\/a>.<\/p>\n Medications that are prescribed off-label include<\/a> prescription stimulants (methylphenidate, lisdexamfetamine, modafinil), the anti-smoking treatment bupropion, the opioid-blocking drug naltrexone (including in combination with bupropion), and antidepressants.<\/p>\n However, these drugs may not work and may cause unnecessary side effects or safety risks.<\/p>\n How about mirtazapine?<\/p>\n Studies<\/a> in recent years suggest the antidepressant mirtazapine may provide some hope.<\/p>\n Two<\/a> studies were conducted<\/a> in the United States in an outpatient research clinic in San Francisco, California. Both trials found mirtazapine reduced meth use.<\/p>\n These initial trials were conducted a research clinic with a small group of patients (60 and 120 respectively) who were monitored closely. Patients were at risk of HIV<\/a>: men and transgender women who had sex with men. Women and people with depression were excluded.<\/p>\n So our Australian team wanted to know if mirtazapine would have the same benefit if it were used by doctors in community clinics to treat a larger and more diverse group of patients.<\/p>\n What we did and what we found<\/p>\n The Tina Trial<\/a> recruited a larger and more diverse sample of 339 people dependent on meth from six outpatient clinics in Australia.<\/p>\n At the start of the trial, participants had used meth an average of 22 days out of the previous 28.<\/p>\n Half were randomly assigned to either take home mirtazapine (a 30 milligram tablet daily), or a placebo<\/a>, for 12 weeks. The researchers then tracked days when participants used meth across the 12-week period.<\/p>\n People who received mirtazapine reduced their meth use by more than people who received the placebo (an average reduction of seven out of 28 days compared with 4.8).<\/p>\n So the comparative advantage of mirtazapine was modest: 2.2 days in use out of 28 days.<\/p>\n This benefit was apparent regardless of whether people had depression at the start of the study.<\/p>\n Although this reduction is small, in the absence of any alternative medication, this is an important step forward.<\/p>\n Our research team believes mirtazapine has a direct effect on meth dependence, distinct from its ability to reduce depression.<\/p>\n This implies mirtazapine is acting directly on brain systems involved in drug reward, and might restore function to pathways that long-term meth use can disrupt.<\/p>\n Our study found no unexpected safety issues when using mirtazapine to treat meth dependence. The most common side effects were drowsiness and weight gain.<\/p>\n This isn’t a ‘cure’<\/p>\n Mirtazapine is not an instant “cure” for meth dependence. But in the absence of any approved medications for methamphetamine use worldwide, it is a critical first step in providing medications to reduce harms from methamphetamine.<\/p>\n Mirtazapine is cheap, safe, and readily available. Many doctors are familiar with its use to treat depression.<\/p>\n Related: Common Antidepressants May Have Another Surprising Effect on Your Brain<\/a><\/p>\n It is a take-home medication, making it convenient for people to use. So there is no need for daily clinic visits or close medical monitoring.<\/p>\n It is also “off patent”, meaning there are inexpensive generic versions.<\/p>\n In order for mirtazapine to be routinely prescribed for meth dependence outside a clinical trial<\/a>, regulators would need to approve it for this purpose. This requires research evidence, like that provided by the Tina Trial.<\/p>\n In the meantime, doctors can prescribe mirtazapine off-label. Guidelines on the off-label prescribing of medications are available<\/a> from the Royal Australian New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.<\/p>\n Further information on the Tina Trial is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you have concerns about your own or someone else’s drug or alcohol use, call the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015. This 24\/7 hotline provides free and confidential information and support.<\/p>\n [Editor’s note: For readers in the US seeking information about assistance with drugs and substance abuse, see here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n Rebecca McKetin<\/a>, Associate Professor, National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Sydney<\/a> and Shalini Arunogiri<\/a>, Addiction Psychiatrist, Associate Professor, Monash University<\/a><\/p>\n This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Methamphetamine \u2013 more commonly known as meth, crystal, or ice \u2013 is a highly addictive, stimulant drug. An…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-516236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Woman's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/antidepressant-642x361.jpg\")
Studies in recent years suggest the antidepressant mirtazapine may provide some hope. (Evgeniia Siiankovskaia\/Moment\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Subscribe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Generic-Health-Promo-Final-642x273.jpg\")
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