![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/FINAL-ART-PIZZA--768x432.jpg\")
\t\t<\/p>\nWERNERSVILLE, Pa. \u2014 To make sense of the reds and greens dancing across a computer monitor displaying a scale image of a human brain, one requires a vivid vocabulary. At this upscale addiction treatment facility, \u201cneurofeedback therapy\u201d and \u201cquantitative electroencephalogram\u201d are part of the holistic, no-expenses-spared treatment philosophy on offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But customized brain scans aren\u2019t the technology that has both staff and patients here most excited. Lately, the bigger paradigm shift has come in the form of semaglutide \u2014 the blockbuster medication commonly used for weight loss and branded as Ozempic or Wegovy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In recent months, doctors at Caron Treatment Centers, an elite nonprofit rehab facility, have begun prescribing semaglutide to patients not to address obesity or diabetes but to help treat the addictions that brought them here in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think of this as doing anything wild west,\u201d said Steven Klein, one of the staff physicians who has pioneered the practice of prescribing GLP-1s, as the class of medications is known, as a treatment for addiction. \u201cWe\u2019re using something off-label under the umbrella of addiction, whether that be food, sex, alcohol, or opioids.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite Klein\u2019s attempts to downplay the program, Caron is, without a doubt, in uncharted territory. While the medications show significant promise as addiction treatments, only a handful of clinical trials are underway to measure their ability to reduce substance use. Several are unlikely to publish results within the next two years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t At this idyllic facility 70 miles outside Philadelphia, however, Klein and two fellow\u00a0doctors are bypassing the speculation and the slow-moving scientific enterprise. No program has so openly and aggressively touted GLP-1s as a means of treating substance use disorder. And while their operation is backed by limited clinical data, their own eyes are giving them more confidence day by day.\u00a0<\/p>\n Remarkably, all three of the physicians are in long-term recovery from addiction: Mo Sarhan, who recently decamped Pennsylvania to run Caron\u2019s sister facility in Florida; Adam Scioli, the organization\u2019s chief medical officer; and Klein, who evangelizes GLP-1s both because they\u2019ve helped his patients\u2019 recovery and because, in 2023, he used them to drop 40 pounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n With a combined 250,000 Americans dying each year from drug overdose and alcohol-related causes, the field of addiction treatment is ripe for a paradigm shift. What few medications do exist for substance use disorders are either marginally effective or sorely underutilized. For opioid addiction, buprenorphine \u2014 which Caron also offers \u2014 and another medication, methadone, face immense stigma<\/a>. For alcohol, medications like naltrexone or acamprosate have only marginal benefits. For some substances, like methamphetamine or cocaine, there\u2019s no medication treatment at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n Until now \u2014 that is, if Caron\u2019s doctors are right.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Caron doctors, outwardly, try to temper their optimism, but it\u2019s clear that each views GLP-1s as a potential game-changer. Sarhan, who had noticed in his own Alcoholics Anonymous group that people using the medications for weight loss fared better in their recovery, said in a recent interview that semaglutide has \u201cobliterated\u201d many of his patients\u2019 cravings for the substances they previously used, including opioids, alcohol, and stimulants.<\/p>\n And even outside the context of addiction, it seems the medications could redefine human beings\u2019 relationship with many forms of pleasure.\u00a0<\/p>\n In interviews, experts told STAT of a wide array of potential uses or, in some cases, anecdotes of GLP-1s appearing to transform people\u2019s addictive relationships with tobacco, nail-biting, drinking, gambling, drugs, sex, shopping, and more.<\/p>\n Even Klein, who never exhibited problem gambling behavior, has seen his habits shift: Years ago, while driving to family vacations on the Jersey Shore, he\u2019d stop for an hour of blackjack at the Borgata in Atlantic City. Now, he said, he\u2019d rather just get to the beach.<\/p>\n The shift fits perfectly into his broader philosophy on GLP-1s: That brains battling addiction often generate urges to take part in a harmful behavior, be it big or small. The medications, in his own experience, clearly play a role in quieting those voices.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI had this record in my brain that meant when I\u2019m stressed, I overeat,\u201d Klein said. \u201cThe GLP-1s just lifted the needle off that record. I know what drug addiction feels like. I know that those voices are the same. I know they\u2019re my voice, convincing me to do things I really don\u2019t want to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Addiction and trauma: one doctor\u2019s story<\/p>\n Like so many stories of addiction and redemption, Klein\u2019s tale begins with an acute trauma.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a high-school sophomore on the track and field team, Klein was practicing shot put\u00a0when an elderly assistant coach wandered into the path of his throw. The metal sphere struck the coach in the head, and he died a week later.\u00a0<\/p>\n Klein\u2019s substance use began almost immediately: a means of staving off memories of the nightmare scene that had played out in front of him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI still can recall aspects of the facial expression that he had, and being picked up from school by my parents and going to the hospital with my dad,\u201d he said. \u201cI just really started to fear sleep. So I started using stimulants to not go to sleep, or drinking alcohol until I would pass out into a blacked-out stupor. It was less that the amount of those substances mattered, but more that I developed that neurocognitive link where if I have a feeling and I don\u2019t want to deal with it, substances are the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n But throughout his childhood and into his medical training, Klein\u2019s substance use largely remained under control. In the early going, it was no match for the more productive half of his brain: the half that led him to California in pursuit of an M.D.-Ph.D. with a focus in genetics.\u00a0<\/p>\n Klein, briefly, was living the good life: a full ride at UCLA, bylines in prestigious medical journals, contributions to significant advances in genetics research, and engaged and planning a Napa Valley wedding with a wealthy fiance. But when his partner confessed to an affair and the relationship collapsed, his addiction quickly escalated.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy life kind of fell apart,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of this armor just disappeared, and I proceeded to drink the way, as it\u2019s been explained to me, that I\u2019d always wanted to, which was without any concern for what was going on. I found myself in the midst of a very bad drug and benzodiazepine and cocaine addiction that was probably going to ruin me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Klein, at one point, even moved to an apartment in West Hollywood just steps from his favorite bar \u2014 a defense mechanism of sorts, aimed not only at convenience but also at preventing him from drinking and driving.<\/p>\n \t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tHow the U.S. is sabotaging its best tools to prevent deaths in the opioid epidemic<\/a><\/p>\n Luckily, Klein\u2019s home was also steps away from the famed West Hollywood Recovery Center, an epicenter of addiction recovery in Southern California known as the \u201cLog Cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2016, he began attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting there. He has been sober since.\u00a0<\/p>\n But even as his sobriety remained consistent, other aspects of his health flagged \u2014 particularly during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, when his weight jumped and his metabolic panels looked, in the words of Klein\u2019s doctor, \u201ckind of crap.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n After several cycles of an enthusiastic week of dieting and exercise followed by several weeks with neither, the doctor suggested he might be a candidate for Mounjaro, a formulation of the GLP-1 tirzepatide, a close relative of semaglutide.\u00a0<\/p>\n The effect was transformative. Klein quickly began losing weight and experienced next to no side effects: He threw up only once, he said, on the day of one of his largest dose increases, but has since learned to navigate the gastrointestinal issues common in those who take GLP-1s.\u00a0<\/p>\n Today, Klein is happily married, planning to start a family, and has made peace with pivoting from a high-octane research career to a calmer existence in the Philadelphia exurbs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, he spends his long drives sponsoring other AA participants by phone, leads group therapy sessions, and offers lectures on neurobiology to Caron participants. He\u2019s adopted a regimen of strength training that has made his Mounjaro-backed weight loss both healthy and sustainable. And he has established himself as a sounding board for other doctors hoping to use GLP-1s to help their patients fight addiction, lecturing in webinars and even orchestrating a Google group in which he tutors other doctors on semaglutide treatment, often sharing the consent forms he gives his patients and strategies for fighting obstinate insurance companies.<\/p>\n \u201cI truly think these medications work,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause obesity is an addiction to food.\u201d<\/p>\n A meeting in recovery leads to joining of forces<\/p>\n As Klein reeled from his breakup and his substance use spiraled, a different doctor was also seeking recovery along the California coast: Mo Sarhan.\u00a0<\/p>\n As part of his treatment plan at a facility in Malibu, Sarhan was regularly driven east across the Pacific Coast Highway, through Santa Monica, all the way to the West Hollywood Recovery Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the time, the GLP-1 craze was just beginning. But in a city known for its focus on both looks and physical fitness, the medications\u2019 use was already widespread, even in Sarhan\u2019s Alcoholics Anonymous group.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI would hear people say they got put on medications for diabetes or weight loss, and then all of a sudden they\u2019re feeling happier and healthier, and they\u2019re not craving as much, and their periods of sobriety are getting longer and longer,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Soon after Sarhan began attending the meeting, he met Klein\u2019s sponsor, who, upon learning Sarhan also worked in medicine, suggested he meet. The two quickly became friends, even attending group sessions known as caduceus meetings, tailored specifically to medical professionals in recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Sarhan moved to Pennsylvania and eventually wound up as an addiction medicine fellow at Caron, he began prescribing the medications, too: not explicitly for addiction, but to patients who otherwise met criteria for GLP-1s based on their body mass index or a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. The results were so compelling that he soon created what he called \u201cThe Ozempic Files\u201d: a specific repository of data about his own patients and their successes on semaglutide.\u00a0<\/p>\n And as Klein continued to pursue his prestigious career as a physician-scientist, focused on treating pediatric patients navigating complex genetic conditions, it was Sarhan who observed that he seemed \u201cmiserable\u201d and suggested he apply to the same addiction medicine fellowship at Caron.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sarhan, upon moving to work at Caron\u2019s facility in Delray Beach, Fla., effectively handed the baton to Klein, who stepped into his role working with the \u201crelapse unit\u201d \u2014 patients making a new attempt at recovery after trying, unsuccessfully, before.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was in this unit that Sarhan first noticed GLP-1s\u2019 potential, in the subset of patients eligible for the drugs on weight loss grounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI started to hear from them that things felt different,\u201d Sarhan said. \u201cThey weren\u2019t craving as much, and they were more engaged in their recovery programs. So I started doing it a little bit more frequently and with a little more intention. And then, when Steve joined, we joined forces.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Inside Caron\u2019s off-label GLP-1 protocol for addiction<\/p>\n Caron\u2019s current protocol for using GLP-1s bears only a passing resemblance to the protocol for patients seeking treatment for obesity, diabetes, sleep apnea, or a related condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n While doses for the brand-name drugs often exceed 2 milligrams per week, Caron uses an initiation dose of 0.25 mg and then doubles it if patients remain comfortable. And instead of the high-priced injector pens like Mounjaro or Ozempic, Klein has largely opted for cheap, compounded versions of the medications, especially for patients who are not otherwise eligible for GLP-1s.\u00a0<\/p>\n But it remains an open question whether Caron\u2019s early success in employing semaglutide is more broadly applicable across addiction medicine.\u00a0<\/p>\n Caron is an elite nonprofit dating back to 1957 that reported $85 million in revenue in 2024, according to a recent tax disclosure. The hourlong drive to its campus from Philadelphia separates some of the nation\u2019s most drug-ravaged neighborhoods from rolling hills and impressive mansions lining roads dotted with yellow signs depicting a horse and buggy, warning motorists to leave room for Amish carriages on the side of the road.\u00a0<\/p>\n Beyond using high-tech brain scans, Caron patients have access to dietitians and a full suite of medical services, with specific wards for older patients or those with severe physical impairments. As an inpatient rehab facility, its environment is tightly controlled, making weekly injections practical here in a way they likely wouldn\u2019t be for someone using fentanyl or meth on the street.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many patients pay dearly for this privilege: While some have insurance coverage, others pay $30,000 for a standard one-month course of treatment or as much as $65,000 for a premium package and private room.\u00a0<\/p>\n The clinical support is also robust. Besides the wealth of services, patients have access to three doctors whose lived experience with substance use gives them unparalleled insights into their patients\u2019 journey. Scioli, the chief medical officer, is a former board chair of International Doctors in Alcoholics Anonymous.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even for successful patients at Caron, however, it\u2019s difficult to apportion credit to GLP-1s or to the many other bells and whistles their treatment program offers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to extract what role these medications really played,\u201d Sarhan said. \u201cI put him on Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes. He\u2019s lost a lot of weight, he was on the men\u2019s relapse unit and was still sober a year after treatment, which is the second-longest period of sobriety he\u2019s had. He\u2019s been really engaged in 12-step programming, and he personally attributes his ongoing success to his engagement in AA.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The reality, Sarhan said, is likely more nuanced: AA is certainly playing a role, but so are Caron\u2019s other treatment offerings, and so is Mounjaro.\u00a0<\/p>\n Caron maintains a strict confidentiality policy. Visitors sign documentation swearing to not reveal the identity of anyone they might come across on Caron\u2019s campus, and the staff bars current and former participants from media interviews until they\u2019ve achieved a full year in stable recovery. Given that Caron\u2019s new GLP-1 program only began in April, no patients were available to describe their experience with the medications firsthand.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t \t\t\t\t Among the doctors, however, optimism abounds, and not just when it comes to substances. Amid a sharp rise in gambling and associated harms, Sarhan, in particular, is intrigued by GLP-1s\u2019 potential use to treat other behavioral disorders.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGambling disorder is the one that has the most of my attention,\u201d Sarhan said. \u201cThe neurobiology and neurochemistry are remarkably similar.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It is unclear, however, whether Sarhan and Klein\u2019s degree of optimism is justified: In particular, the two largely gloss over concerns about side effects, even though more than half of patients in one small study of GLP-1s for opioid use disorder withdrew from the three-week study because of gastrointestinal discomfort.<\/p>\n Unlike typical GLP-1 patients, not all who use the medications to treat addiction are overweight. But Klein and Sarhan don\u2019t appear worried about malnutrition or muscle loss, in part because Caron\u2019s 0.5-mg dosing protocol is so much lower than that\u00a0for obesity. As of July, Klein said 229 Caron patients have received a GLP-1 since the start of 2024, the majority of whom started using the medication during treatment (though some arrived already taking them).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n That includes 47 patients who were given\u00a0compounded GLP-1s specifically for addiction under a new program. Of that group, Klein said 70% have a BMI above 30, and 80% meet the criteria for receiving the medications on physical health grounds alone.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, Caron\u2019s specific initiative is unlikely to yield satisfying answers. The project is not being run as a formal study, but rather as a \u201cclinical initiative\u201d that will tabulate patient data and record outcomes but does not qualify as a clinical trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want people to get too far ahead of where the evidence currently is in terms of using these drugs,\u201d said Stephanie Weiss, a staff clinician at the National Institute on Drug Abuse whose research focuses on GLP-1s and addiction, but is not involved in Caron\u2019s new semaglutide initiative. \u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as a silver bullet, and it\u2019s probably better not to think of addiction as one single disease.\u201d<\/p>\n But she allowed that logically, the mechanisms that make GLP-1s so effective at curbing hunger and \u201cfood noise\u201d are deeply interrelated with the mental processes of addiction, and that the medications likely represent a paradigm shift in addiction medicine.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAll these things interconnect in the central nervous system, and we don\u2019t fully even understand all these pathways yet,\u201d she said. \u201cThe level of impact we\u2019re talking about does seem to be on a different plane.\u201d<\/p>\n Future of GLP-1s for addiction: studies, FDA hurdles<\/p>\n The future of Caron\u2019s program is uncertain. It was launched with a grant from the Center for Addiction, Science, Policy, and Research, an advocacy group founded in 2024 that has spent its first year advocating for wider access to GLP-1s as an addiction treatment. But the program relies on Caron\u2019s ability to source cheap, compounded semaglutide. To date, no GLP-1 medication has received a formal indication as an addiction treatment. No insurer has agreed to reimburse for expensive, brand-name GLP-1s for addiction, and many are even rolling back their coverage of the medications when prescribed for weight loss.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Caron\u2019s access to compounded versions may soon disappear, thanks to a Food and Drug Administration ruling that would bar compounding pharmacies from continuing to produce them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Klein is already scheming a fix. A select few compounding pharmacies, for instance, were licensed to produce semaglutide with a 12-month expiration date, taking supply well into 2026. Generic medications could become available in Canada next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Beyond the result of Caron\u2019s experiment, much remains to be seen about the GLP-1s\u2019 effectiveness as addiction treatments \u2014 particularly for the typical patient unable to afford a clinic like Caron \u2014 as well as drug companies\u2019 willingness to market them as addiction treatments, and patients\u2019 ability to access and tolerate them.<\/p>\n To Sarhan, two things already seem clear: Patients are interested in GLP-1s, and the medications are producing results unlike any he\u2019s seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGLP-1 medications are all-around more attractive to patients: They\u2019re new, they\u2019re sexy, they cause weight loss, they jump-start wellness,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never had a person who I\u2019ve started on naltrexone turn around and tell me that their cravings have been obliterated,\u201d he added, referencing a common treatment for alcohol and opioid addiction. \u201cWhereas I have had that happen with people who\u2019ve been started on GLP-1 medications.\u201d<\/p>\n STAT\u2019s coverage of chronic health issues is supported by a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies<\/a>. Our financial supporters<\/a> are not involved in any decisions about our journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WERNERSVILLE, Pa. \u2014 To make sense of the reds and greens dancing across a computer monitor displaying a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":65341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1556,210,1060,9412,10943,152,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-65340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-addiction","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-medication","11":"tag-novo-nordisk","12":"tag-obesity","13":"tag-pharmaceuticals","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114852601932237991","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/stat\/images\/home\/statplus.svg\")
\n\t\t\t\tThe new weight loss drugs are revolutionizing our understanding of desire. Food cravings could be just the beginning<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GLP1-55-1024x682.jpg\")
The Caron Treatment Centers campusRachel Wisniewski for STAT<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GLP1-10-1024x1536.jpg\")
Klein, a physician at Caron who has personal experience with addiction, recovery, and GLP-1s.Rachel Wisniewski for STAT<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Frame-41-768x432.jpg\")
\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image007-1024x663.jpg\")
Klein (left) and two other Caron physicians, Mo Sarhan (center) and Juan Franco, attended the American Society of Addiction Medicine\u2019s annual conference in Denver in April.Courtesy Steven Klein<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GLP1-06-1024x1536.jpg\")
Electroencephalography caps speak to the range of diagnostic tools on offer at Caron.Rachel Wisniewski for STAT<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GLP1-02-1024x1536.jpg\")
Computer monitors show a patient\u2019s electrical brain activity.Rachel Wisniewski for STAT<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GLP1-13-1024x682.jpg\")
<\/a>Adam Scioli (right), chief medical officer at Caron, speaks with Klein.Rachel Wisniewski for STAT<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GLP1-25-1024x682.jpg\")
<\/a>A patient roomRachel Wisniewski for STAT<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Ozempic_v_Compounded_v2-768x432.jpg\")
\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tThe end of compounded GLP-1 copies leaves many patients in a \u2018lose-lose\u2019 position<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GLP1-48-1024x682.jpg\")
Compounded semaglutide vials in one of the rehab center\u2019s refrigerators.Rachel Wisniewski for STAT<\/p>\n