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 analysisThe scoping review will follow the framework of Arksey and O’Malley, further developed by Levacet aland the Joanna Briggs Institute. The search strategy, developed by the authors, includes querying three electronic databases—PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus—using keywords and the Medical Subject Headings, for evidence published in English, French, Spanish or Portuguese between 2011 and 2020. Additionally, articles from PubMed alerts and other sources will also be considered. The results of the scoping review will describe the currently available evidence regarding misuse of medicines at EU level.Ethics and disseminationSince 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 detailsThis scoping review protocol is registered in the Open Science Framework (OSF; seehttps://osf.io/fzr9u) and has also been shared as a preprint in this free and open-source project management repository. It is available athttps://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/y3s4q.

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Background: Misuse 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. However, in the EU published literature is scarce, and almost absent in Portugal. Objectives: 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 Portugal and other EU countries. Data on the possible consequences of medicines’ misuse – adverse drug reactions, poisonings, hospitalisations and deaths – will also be collected.Methods: The scoping review will follow the framework of Arksey and O’Malley, further developed by Levac et al. and the Joanna Briggs Institute. The search strategy, developed by the authors, includes querying three electronic databases - PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus - using keywords and the Medical Subject Headings, for evidence published during a 10-year period up to 2020. Additionally, articles from PubMed alerts and other sources will also be considered. The current scoping review will include studies published in English, French, Spanish or Portuguese. Discussion: The results of this review will describe the current state of the art regarding misuse of medicines at EU level. 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.