Psychiatrists, GPs and other professionals working in the substance misuse field will benefit from reading these new guidelines from the British Association for Psychopharmacology.

The guidelines cover the pharmacological management of alcohol, nicotine, opioids, benzodiazepines, stimulants and associated comorbidity with mental health problems and substance use or abuse in pregnancy. They look specifically at comorbidity, young people and the elderly and also have sections on personality disorders, club drugs and cannabis.

The consensus guidelines are an update of the original version that was published in 2004. They were put together following a meeting of experts from the fields of addiction and comorbidity in December 2009. The evidence in the guideline includes material from 2011.

Link

Lingford-Hughes AR, Welch S, Peters L and Nutt DJ. BAP updated guidelines: evidence-based guidelines for the pharmacological management of substance abuse, harmful use, addiction and comorbidity: recommendations from BAP (PDF). British Association for Psychopharmacology, 2012.