Amanda M Bunting, Riley Shearer, Ashley N Linden-Carmichael, Arthur Robin Williams, Sandra D Comer, Magdalena Cerdá, Jennifer Lorvick
The rise in drug overdoses and harms associated with the use of more than one substance has led to increased use of the term "polysubstance use" among researchers, clinicians, and public health officials. However, the term retains no consistent definition across contexts. The current authors convened from disciplines including sociology, epidemiology, neuroscience, and addiction psychiatry to propose a recommended definition of polysubstance use. An iterative process considered authors' formal and informal conversations, insights from relevant symposia, talks, and conferences, as well as their own research and clinical experiences to propose the current definition...
September 21, 2023: American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse