If there is a family of medications that has made headlines in recent years, it is the GLP-1 receptor agonists, although they will probably be more familiar to you if we say ‘Ozempic‘ either ‘wegovy‘. These drugs began by revolutionizing the treatment of type 2 diabetes, but it was all a very effective way to ‘treat’ obesity. But soon after, scientists began to notice something fascinating when they saw that patients said they also lost the desire to drink. alcoholsmoking or nail biting.
After investigating it. A new studyor have taken these first indications of the suppression of impulses one step further, entering the field of crimonology and have seen that it can be a way to reduce violent crimes.
To reach this point, the researchers analyzed, through a survey, 821 adults who had used GLP-1 drugs at some point. After this, the study separately analyzed current users of these medications with former users to see exactly the effect the medication can have on points that go beyond food consumption.
The results. What they found is not that Ozempic “reduces crime,” but something much more subtle: in current users, the association between impulsivity traits or alcohol consumption and violent behavior was significantly weaker.
That is, the drug seems to act as a buffer, since in an unmedicated person, high impulsivity combined with alcohol consumption is usually a cocktail that facilitates aggressive behavior, since something that is well proven is the relationship between alcohol and violence. But in patients under treatment with Ozempic, this transition between “feeling the impulse” and “executing the violent action” seems to be attenuated, which could prevent the transition to committing a crime of intent.
Because? To understand why a metabolic drug could have behavioral effects, we have to look at the brain, since GLP-1 agonists act on brain areas involved in the reward system and appetite regulation.
The clinical context of this phenomenon is increasingly documented, since a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial published in JAMA Psychiatry demonstrated that semaglutide reduced craving and several drinking metrics in adults with alcoholism disorder. This medical trial has much greater causal weight than the criminological study and provides a solid clinical basis by pointing out that GLP-1 modulates our relationship with substances and immediate gratification.
With violence. With all this we can make it clear that, if on the one hand alcohol is reduced and on the other the impulsivity felt when thinking about committing a crime, indirectly two of the main catalysts of violence are being reduced.
The small print. With these types of findings, it is easy to fall into sensationalism and think that we are facing the ‘Clockwork Orange’ pill. However, it must be emphasized that the published study is observational and cross-sectional in nature. This means that a kind of ‘still photo’ of the situation has been taken without following up on the participants to see how their impulsivity evolves over time.
Images | David Trinks
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