About this Research Topic

Background

This Research Topic is part of a series with Substance Use Disorder: Above and Beyond Addiction.

Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is a mental disorder that causes an individual to compulsively consume legal or illegal drugs such as alcohol, opioids, methamphetamine, marijuana, and medications, despite harmful consequences.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), alcohol causes 5.1 % of the global burden of disease, and harmful drinking behavior is associated with more than 200 diseases and injury conditions.

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, about 200 million people are addicted to cocaine, cannabis, opioids and sedative-hypnotics.

Alcohol and drug abuse act differently on our brain, hence their acute and chronic effects, including manifestations of physiological and psychological symptoms during reduced or cessation of intake is dissimilar.

This research topic aims to highlight the latest findings in the field of substance use disorder, especially focusing on the mechanisms and effects of alcohol, legal and illegal drugs on brain and behavior, at clinical and preclinical levels. Furthermore, we wish to highlight novel treatment options, including the use of hallucinogens to increase abstinence.

We are also interested in understanding the recent trends in sociodemographics and other clinical and non-clinical factors contributing to the widespread consumption of alcohol or drugs.

We invite submissions (Original Research, Review, Hypothesis, and Theory, perspectives) dealing with the following themes, including but not limited to:

- How drugs/alcohol affect our brain and behavior: Acute/chronic intake/withdrawal/relapse and the associated molecular and behavioral changes (alcohol, opioid/methamphetamine/cannabis/medicines).

- Synthetic cannabinoids and psychosis; their effects on other neurotransmitter systems such as dopamine, serotonin, glutamate, noradrenaline and GABA

- Novel treatment options and pharmacology of serotonergic psychedelics in relation to substance use disorder

- Prevalence of alcohol/substance use, co-occurring disorders with SUD and their prevalence, sociodemographic factors, and clinical factors associated as risk factors and consequences from chronic alcohol or drug use.

Topic Coordinator Prof Dr. Prem Kumar Shanmugam is employed by Solace Asia Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.

All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regards to the Research Topic subject.

Keywords: Drug Addiction, Gene Expression, Synthetic Drugs, Neurotransmitter Signaling, Pharmacogenomics

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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