Drug Abuse and Withdrawal Syndromes: From Addiction Pathways to Novel Interventions
A special issue of Medicines (ISSN 2305-6320).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 57
Special Issue Editor
Interests: opioids; brain systems; autonomic physiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The incidence of substance use disorders (SUDs) is endemic throughout the world and ever increasing in severity. The need to understand the mechanisms of addiction and physical dependence on drugs such as opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine, benzodiazepines and alcohol is therefore greater than ever. Moreover, the co-ingestion of many of these drugs presents an entirely new set of health problems that are very difficult to treat and obscure efforts to understand the root causality of the addiction/dependence.
The issue of near-fatal and fatal withdrawal syndromes that follow cessation of ingestion of these drugs individually and together also presents a major challenge, with few therapeutic options being currently available. The purpose of this solicitation is to attract research, review and position (opinion) articles addressing (1) the root causes of SUDs (from single and complex drug combinations) from a societal perspective, (2) the mechanisms that cause addiction/physical dependence on SUDs alone or as a mixture, (3) the mechanisms responsible for withdrawal syndromes from each SUD combination, (4) the current state of medication assistance programs (e.g., buprenorphine) with respect to efficacy and availability, and (5) novel therapies that (a) prevent the development of addiction/dependence on SUDs and (b) overcome existing addiction/dependence.
Prof. Dr. Stephen J. Lewis
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- substance use disorder
- opioids
- cocaine
- methamphetamine
- benzodiazepines
- alcohol
- clinical
- basic science
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