Pharmacists’ Roles in the Identification, Prevention and Treatment of Substance Use Disorders
A special issue of Pharmacy (ISSN 2226-4787). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmacy Practice and Practice-Based Research".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 67
Special Issue Editor
Interests: substance use; service delivery; reducing drug related harm
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Substance misuse refers to hazardous or addictive use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs (e.g., marijuana, cocaine, and heroin), and prescription medications (e.g., opioids, gabapentinoids, and benzodiazepines). The DSM-5 classifies these as substance use disorders (addictions) and substance-induced disorders (intoxication/withdrawal). Substance misuse contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality, exacerbating conditions like HIV, hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and respiratory disease. It also impacts workplaces through reduced productivity, absenteeism, and safety risks. Prescription drug misuse is prevalent across age groups, and dependence on prescription drugs can be challenging to identify and manage. Pharmacists play critical roles in prevention, education, and treatment. Their medication expertise positions them to identify substance use disorders, counsel patients, and ensure safe medication distribution. Pharmacists can improve treatment access and outcomes for affected individuals across pharmacy sectors of community, secondary, and primary care.
We invite you to share your approaches and successes on the pharmacists’ role in addressing substance use disorders. We welcome submissions of all types, including original research, brief reports of original research, reviews, and short communications. In addition, we welcome the submission of resident or trainee research projects that focused on substance use services. We hope that this Special Issue will inspire other stewards and practitioners to share their own practices, adopt new approaches, and innovate to advance the prevention and treatment of substance use problems.
Prof. Dr. Catriona Matheson
Guest Editor
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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. Pharmacy is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 1800 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
- substance use disorders
- prescription drug misuse
- pharmacists
- drug safety
- community pharmacy
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