Protocol for a scoping review on misuse of psychoactive medicines and its consequences.

introductionMisuse of psychoactive medicines, especially prescription opioids, but also benzodiazepines, hypnotics and sedatives, has become a significant public health issue in some countries, especially in the USA, where it has been extensively documented, as well as in Canada and Australia. However, in the European Union (EU) published literature on the topic is scarce and heterogeneous regarding definitions, sources of data, tools and methods of analysis.The aim of this scoping review is to map the key concepts on psychoactive medicines' misuse and examine the existing body of evidence on this topic in the EU. Data on the possible consequences of medicines' misuse-adverse drug reactions, poisonings, hospitalisations and deaths-will also be analysed. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The scoping review will follow the framework of Arksey and O'Malley, further developed by Levac ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Since the scoping review methodology focuses on published data, this study does not require ethical approval. We will publish our findings in a peer-reviewed journal and plan to disseminate our work in conferences and scientific meetings. REGISTRATION DETAILS: This scoping review protocol is registered in the Open Science Framework (OSF; see https://osf.io/fzr9u) and has also been shared as a preprint in this free and open-source project management repository. It is available at https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/y3s4q.