GLP-1 drugs linked to lower substance-related harm in large veterans study
Mar 5th 2026
Analysis of VA records found people on GLP-1 diabetes drugs had fewer substance-related ER visits, hospitalizations and deaths across multiple addictions compared with another diabetes medication.
- Researchers analyzed records from over 600,000 U.S. veterans with Type 2 diabetes comparing GLP-1 users to SGLT2 inhibitor users.
- Among people with existing substance use disorders, GLP-1 use was associated with fewer emergency visits, hospitalizations and deaths tied to substance use.
- Benefits were observed across alcohol, opioids, nicotine, stimulants and cannabis.
- The study also found lower rates of new substance use disorders with GLP-1s, but that finding was weaker than the treatment signal.
- This analysis is observational using emulated target trials and the cohort was mostly older men, so randomized trials and more diverse samples are needed for confirmation.