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The British Association for Psychopharmacology guidelines for the treatment of substance abuse, harmful use, addiction and comorbidity with psychiatric disorders primarily focus on their pharmacological management. They are based explicitly on the available evidence and presented as recommendations to aid clinical decision making for practitioners alongside a detailed review of the evidence. A consensus meeting, involving experts in the treatment of these disorders, reviewed key areas and considered the strength of the evidence and clinical implications. The guidelines were drawn up after feedback from participants. The guidelines primarily cover the pharmacological management of withdrawal, short-and long-term substitution, maintenance of abstinence and prevention of complications, where appropriate, for substance abuse or harmful use or addiction as well management in pregnancy, comorbidity with psychiatric disorders and in younger and older people. KeywordsSubstance misuse, addiction, guidelines, pharmacotherapy, comorbidity 1 Imperial College London, CNWL NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK 2 Gether NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucester, UK 3 Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, Ashton-under-Lyne, UKOther invited participants at the consensus meeting who contributed to the discussion and commented on the guidelines were Drummond C, Farrell M, Gilvarry E, Strang J. John, a user representative, read and commented on the written guidelines. Prof W van den Brink reviewed the written guidelines.

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Confidence that most associations reported were specifically due to cannabis is low. Despite clinical opinion, it remains important to establish whether cannabis is harmful, what outcomes are particularly susceptible, and how such effects are mediated. Studies to examine this further are eminently feasible.