The Need for Examining the Role of Psychostimulants in Treatment of Methamphetamine Use/Dependence

Replacement therapy is a key tool in the treatment of individuals who abuse opioids. The idea is to replace heroin or morphine with less euphoric and longer-acting substances, such as methadone, under a medication management protocol. The goals of medical-assisted replacement treatment include reducing an individual's craving for abused opioids, preventing medical complications, decreasing criminal behavior and its consequences, and utimately, hopefully, helping the individual become opioid-free. In this podcast, Dr. Richard Balon discusses the potential for replacement therapy for abuse of other types of substances, including cocaine and methamphetamines. In the podcast and in an editorial in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology (JCP), he notes promising but preliminary studies of lisdexamfetamine as a possible replacement agent. Dr. Balon is an Associate Editor of JCP and Professor of Psychiatry at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. In this podcast, he is interviewed by Dr. Julia Koretski, Digital Editor for JCP and a psychiatrist at Mass General Brigham Newton Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts. Dr. Balon's editorial is published in the November–December 2023 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, in an article titled "The Need for Examining the Role of Psychostimulants in Treatment of Methamphetamine Use/Dependence."