Advances in the study of pharmacotherapy for addiction to naturally-derived psychoactive substances

Abstracts: Drug addiction, a disorder characterized by chronic relapsing and compulsive drug use, is a major problem that endangers public safety and human health. Addictive drugs can be divided into natural, semi-synthetic, and synthetic drugs according to their origin; they can also be classified into three categories based on their pharmacological targets, including opioids, hallucinogens, and cannabinoids acting on G protein-coupled receptors, alcohols, nicotine, ketamine, barbiturates and benzodiazepines acting on ligand-gated ion channel-type receptors, and psychostimulants acting on monoamine transporters. Commonly used treatments for drug addiction include substitution therapy and non-pharmacotherapy. Still, these approaches have limitations - they do not address the root causes of "relapse". There are already several drugs in the clinical stage that have shown potential therapeutic effects on addiction to opioids, heroin, cocaine, and other drugs. This review describes the sources and pharmacological mechanisms of addiction to naturally-derived psychoactive substances, as well as provides an overview of research advances in pharmacotherapy for drug addiction.