Articles That Changed Our Practice 2026 (Part 2)Articles That Changed Our Practice 2026 (Part 2)
Addiction Medicine Journal Club
Dr. John Heenan and Dr. Sonia Del Tredici review four recent studies on medications for alcohol use disorder and smoking, using real-life cases to show how the data shape everyday clinical decisions. The discussion highlights new pharmacological options and the importance of addressing tobacco use alongside other substance problems.
36:36•6 Apr 2026
New Medications, Old Habits: How Four Studies Shift Alcohol and Smoking Care
Episode Overview
- Varenicline, with or without bupropion, reduced heavy drinking and may be an option for patients on buprenorphine who cannot use naltrexone.
- Once-weekly semaglutide lowered alcohol consumption, cravings, some smoking, and body weight in adults with alcohol use disorder.
- Cytisinicline showed clear benefits for smoking cessation with relatively few adverse effects, and an easier dosing schedule than traditional regimens.
- Quitting smoking was associated with higher odds of sustained substance use disorder recovery compared with remaining a current smoker.
- Clinicians are encouraged to treat tobacco as a top health priority in recovery while still respecting patients’ immediate focus on other substances.
“Quitting smoking actually did have a strong predictive effect here.”
What insights can experts and survivors share about addiction? Addiction Medicine Journal Club brings a late-night, slightly tea-fuelled energy to a very practical conversation about research that genuinely changes day-to-day practice.
Aimed squarely at clinicians working with substance use disorders, this episode walks through four recent studies using real-world case vignettes: a complex patient with opioid use disorder and heavy drinking, a person drinking a 30-pack of beer a day, long-term smokers who feel they’ve tried everything, and patients early in opioid recovery who see tobacco as a “low priority”. You’ll hear Dr. John Heenan and Dr.
Sonia Del Tredici talk through how varenicline plus bupropion cut heavy drinking and may also help with smoking, why semaglutide is “the Michael Phelps of drugs” for its multiple benefits, and how cytisinicline offers a new, plant-derived option for smoking cessation with a simple dosing schedule and solid quit rates.
They also unpack a large cohort study showing that quitting cigarettes is strongly linked with better long-term substance use recovery, pushing back on the old idea that “one thing at a time” is always best. The style is relaxed, a bit nerdy, and quietly funny, but the focus stays on practical questions: Which medicines are reasonable first choices? How strong are the actual effect sizes? What can you safely combine with buprenorphine?
And how do you keep tobacco on the agenda without shaming people who are already juggling so much? As they put it, tobacco remains “the most deadly of all the addictions we treat”, and this episode offers concrete tools to address it alongside alcohol and opioids. If you’re trying to keep your addiction medicine practice up to date without wading through every journal yourself, this one might be worth your next commute or coffee break.
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