Healthnotes Newswire (August 17, 2000)—Acupuncture to the ear—also known as auricular acupuncture—is significantly more effective in treating cocaine dependency than sham acupuncture or simple relaxation techniques, according to a new report published in the current issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.¹

Cocaine addicts receiving true acupuncture were more than three times as likely to test negative for cocaine abuse than those in the relaxation group, and more than twice as likely to test negative than those given sham acupuncture. Both findings were statistically significant.

Eighty-two addicts, who were trying to end their dependence on cocaine, participated in the study. They were divided equally into groups that received acupuncture, sham acupuncture, or relaxation treatment five times per week for eight weeks. Drug status was assessed three times per week by urine tests. Whenever urine samples were not supplied, participants were assumed to still be using cocaine.

In addition to cocaine, some participants also used narcotics and had been given methadone—a drug that helps narcotics-addicted people withdraw from narcotics, typically heroin.

An estimated 1.8 million Americans use cocaine.² Although the evidence is inconclusive, support for the use of auricular acupuncture to treat cocaine addiction is currently stronger than support for any drug to treat this condition. Controlled trials have yet to show that prescription drugs can help cocaine-dependent people kick the habit. Meanwhile, acupuncture is a relatively low-cost approach with few known side effects. Auricular acupuncture is already in widespread use in drug treatment centers throughout the United States.³

Fewer people completed the true acupuncture program (13 out of 28) than either the sham acupuncture (17 out of 27) or relaxation programs (22 out of 27), according to the new report. This raises the possibility that the positive results obtained in the true acupuncture group were exaggerated by participants who got no benefit from true acupuncture and then dropped out of the trial before it was completed. To rule out this possibility, researchers determined that those who dropped out of the true acupuncture group were similar to dropouts in the other groups and did not constitute a special group of treatment failures.

Some previous trials have reported that acupuncture appears to be more effective than placebo treatments for cocaine dependency. In one such report, 57% of addicts given usual care plus acupuncture remained drug free, a significantly higher number than in the control group.⁴ In another trial, compliance with substance abuse treatment in a psychiatric clinic was 75% in those given acupuncture, versus only 20% in the control group.⁵ Similar results have been obtained for addiction to crack-cocaine.⁶

However, several trials have found acupuncture to be ineffective.^{7 8 9} The authors of the new study suggest that previous failures to demonstrate effectiveness of auricular acupuncture in the treatment of cocaine dependence may have resulted from an inappropriate placebo treatment. Some of the negative trials used sham acupuncture points that were quite close to actual acupuncture points. Thus, the sham treatments may have inadvertently had a therapeutic effect, masking the difference between the effects of true acupuncture and “placebo” acupuncture.