Ozempic and Wegovy are popular medicines that help people lose weight and control diabetes. New research from Rutgers University suggests these drugs might also affect how people act violently.
Scientists looked at data from a 2025 survey of 7,521 U.S. adults. They focused on 821 people who had ever taken a GLP‑1 medication. The goal was to see if the drugs changed the link between two well‑known risk factors—impulsiveness and drinking alcohol—and violent actions such as fights, assaults, or robbery.
When researchers compared people who were still using the medicines with those who had stopped, they found that the connections between impulsivity, alcohol use, and violent behavior were much weaker for current users.
Specifically, the link between impulsivity and violence was about 62 % weaker in people taking GLP‑1 drugs. The connection between drinking and violence dropped by roughly 52 % for the same group, although this second result was less consistent in extra tests.
It’s important to note that this research only shows an association. Because the study observed people at a single point in time, it cannot prove that the medicines directly cause less violence.
Future research that follows people over time or tests the drugs in controlled experiments will be needed to confirm whether GLP‑1 medications truly lower the risk of violent behavior and to explain how they might do so.