Effects of Drug Abuse and Its Consequences on Health
A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 532
Special Issue Editors
Interests: psychoactives; pharmacokinetics; pharmacodynamics; pharmacology; clinical toxicology; analytical toxicology; forensic toxicology; drug discovery; toxicogenetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Substance abuse remains a major public health challenge, with both illicit and prescription drugs exerting complex and often severe toxicological effects on multiple biological systems. The consequences of drug misuse extend beyond acute intoxication, contributing to long-term physiological, neurological, and psychiatric disorders. Advances in toxicology, neuroscience, and public health research have deepened our understanding of the multifaceted impact of substance abuse, yet critical knowledge gaps persist in assessing its full spectrum of consequences.
Cutting-edge analytical and experimental approaches, including high-resolution mass spectrometry, neuroimaging, and multi-omics methodologies, have significantly improved our ability to detect and characterize drug-induced damage at molecular, cellular, and systemic levels. Moreover, new therapeutic interventions, such as psychedelic-assisted therapy and pharmacological modulation of addiction pathways, are opening new perspectives for harm reduction and treatment.
This Special Issue will bring together innovative research exploring the toxicological, pharmacological, and health-related effects of drug abuse. We encourage submissions that investigate novel biomarkers of drug-induced toxicity, emerging psychoactive substances, and therapeutic strategies. Original research, systematic reviews, and interdisciplinary studies integrating forensic toxicology are particularly welcome.
Dr. Diana Dias Da Silva
Dr. Marcelo Dutra Arbo
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceuticals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- psychoactive substances
- drug abuse
- toxicological effects
- neurotoxicity
- substance use disorder
- biomarkers of toxicity
- public health impact
- addiction mechanisms
- harm reduction strategies
- novel psychoactive substance (NPS)
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