Acupuncture may help cocaine addicts break their habits, according to a new study.
Arthur Margolin of Yale University School of Medicine and colleagues studied 82 subjects who were addicted to heroin and cocaine. They received methadone for the heroin addiction but continued to use cocaine.
Five times a week for eight weeks, one-third of the addicts received acupuncture on parts of their outer ears that studies have suggested might help alleviate cocaine craving. One-third of the addicts received acupuncture on other parts of the ear, while the final third watched relaxation tapes. All the subjects received counseling.
Urine tests showed that 53.8 percent of those in the first acupuncture group were free of cocaine during the last week of treatment, compared with 23.5 percent of those in the second acupuncture group and 9.1 percent of those who listened to the tapes.
"Findings from the current study provide support for the use of acupuncture for the treatment of cocaine addiction," the researchers wrote in today's issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. "Further research of acupuncture in this application . . . appears to be warranted."
