IT WORKS? –
Mar. 26, 2026 – “There is no medication for cocaine or methamphetamine,” said Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University. “Everything under the sun has been tested and nothing has worked.”
The behavioral treatments that do exist are still largely reserved for specialty clinics and aren’t available in the primary care offices. The signs and symptoms of a stimulant habit or overdose are not the same as they are for opioids, which means people who use these drugs and their loved ones might not be as likely to recognize them.
If we want to prevent the next drug crisis from becoming as devastating as the last, we’ve a lot of work to do on the specifics. But we can — and should — adopt the same principles that have led to our recent successes in bringing down opioid deaths.
“The technical specific treatment intervention might be different,” Dr. Brian Hurley, an addiction physician and immediate past president of American Society of Addiction Medicine, told me. “But the principles of working with the community, helping create connection, giving people access to evidence-based options are the same.”
