Substance use disorder (SUD) is a complex condition that involves the induction of molecular and physiological alterations by the use and abuse of illicit substances. The prevalence of illicit drug use has caused this disorder to grow exponentially over the past 5 years (National Institute of Drug Abuse, 2020). To date, there are several FDA-approved pharmacological treatments for substances that may cause dependency, such as heroin, morphine, alcohol, and nicotine, directed to the attenuation of drug craving, and increase time to relapse. Known as medication-assisted treatment, such FDA-approved pharmaceutical interventions can be used to increase the effectiveness of other substance abuse treatments, including the use of buprenorphine (commonly used in opioid use disorder, OUD).Buprenorphine works as a partial agonist that binds to the opioid receptors in the brain, allowing a partial activation of the receptor when it is activated with opioids, and thus reducing the rewarding effects (James & Williams, 2020). Another FDA-approved treatment for OUD is naloxone, a known opioid receptor antagonist that reduces activation and prevents other endogenous ligands to bind to that receptor (Becker & Chartoff, 2019;James & Williams, 2020). These types of pharmacological treatments are still not available for substances such as cocaine, methamphetamines, or cannabis which limit treatment options. The percentage cocaine users aged
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