Registry

Module Specifications

Archived Version 2011 - 2012

Module Title	Drugs in Society
Module Code	NS141
School	School of Nursing and Human Sciences
Online Module Resources
Module Co-ordinator	Dr Mark Philbin	Office Number	H245b
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	5
Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

Description

In contemporary societies, drugs are used for the sake of pleasure, custom, self-regulation, treatment, enhancement, dependence and profit. Controversies abound in relation to what counts as proper and improper drug use as well as how drugs should be controlled and supplied. Within this module, these various uses and controversies are explored along with their health implications.

Learning Outcomes

1. Identify the principal ways in which drugs are used in contemporary societies
2. Explore controversies about the proper and improper uses of drugs
3. Consider the significance of drug use for fundamental ideas about what it means to be a person
4. Examine debates about the control, prohibition, marketing and supply of drugs
5. Evaluate the health implications of various patterns of drug use

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full-time hours per semester
Lecture	18	Participation in lecture-discussion
Debate	18	Preparations for speaking in a debate
Debate	12	Participation in class debates on controversial issues related to drugs
Online activity	12	Moodle-based reflections following from the class debates
Seminars	12	Led by persons with first-hand experience of drug use: as users, relatives or helpers
Assignment Completion	30	Preparation of an essay relating to a specific drug
Independent Study	23	For general reading and Moodle use
Total Workload: 125

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Uses and misuses of drugs
Examination of the history, uses, misuses, effects and health implications of a range of licit and illicit drugs

Experimenting with drugs
The question is explored of what is learned about drugs through personal and scientific experimentation, how such experimentation is conducted and with what consequences.

'Is it me or my meds?'
The relations between prescribed medication and personal identity are explored with particular reference to psychotropic drugs and the work of David Karp on antidepressants.

Life with drugs
With first-hand accounts by persons who have used drugs in some sense or are significantly affected by their use, various dimensions of living with drugs are the focus for reflection.

Getting ahead with drugs
The possibility is considered of 'becoming more than oneself' through the use of drugs. Attention is paid to drug-enhanced performance in elite sport and everyday life, 'cosmetic psychopharmacology' and debates about post-humanity.

Drug pushing in perspective
The extent of drug pushing is examined through a comparative analysis of the pharmaceutical industry, medicine and illicit drug dealing.

Global trade in drugs
The global drugs trade is examined with particular reference to organised crime and relations between multinational drugs companies and developing countries.

Prohibition and harm minimisation
Notions of prohibition and harm minimisation are compared in terms of their implications for policy and treatment.

Changing drug use
How persons constructively alter their relationships to drugs is explored by reference to conceptualisations of personal change.

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment	100%	Examination Weight	0%

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Course Work Breakdown

Reassessment Requirement
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; 1 = A resit is available for all components of the module 2 = No resit is available for 100% continuous assessment module 3 = No resit is available for the continuous assessment component
Unavailable

Indicative Reading List

Angus Bancroft: 2009, Drugs, intoxication and society, Polity, Cambridge, 9780745635460
Paul Griffiths (Foreword), Jane Fountain (Editor), Dirk J. Korf (Editor): 0, Drugs in Society, 9781846190933
Glen R. Hanson, Peter J. Venturelli, Annette E. Fleckenstein,: 0, Drugs And Society, 9781449613693
David A. Karp: 2006, Is it me or my meds?, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 9780674021822
Paul Manning (Editor): 0, Drugs And Popular Culture, 9781843922100
Marina Barnard, Fergal Keane (Foreword): 0, Drug Addiction and Families, 9781843104032
Philip Bean,: 0, Legalising drugs, 9781847423757
Philip Bean,: 0, Drugs and Crime, 9781843923312
Tom Carnwath and Ian Smith: 0, Heroin century, 9780415278997
Norman K. Denzin,: 0, The Alcoholic Society, 1560006692
David Healy: 2004, Let them eat Prozac, New York University Press, New York, 0814736696
Mike Jay,: 0, High Society, 9780500251720
Peter D. Kramer: 1993, Listening to Prozac, Penguin, New York, N.Y., U.S.A., 0670841838
Rik Loose,: 0, Subject of Addiction, 1855752999
G. Alan Marlatt (Editor), Katie Witkiewitz (Editor): 0, Addictive Behaviors, 9781433804021
edited by Adriana Petryna, Andrew Lakoff, and Arthur Kleinman: 2006, Global pharmaceuticals, Duke University Press, Durham, 0822337290
Dawn Moore,: 0, Criminal Artefacts: Governing Drugs and Users, 9780774813877
Tim Pilcher,: 0, e, the incredibly strange history of ecstasy, 9780762431847
Dominic Streatfeild: 2002, Cocaine, Virgin, London, 9780753506271

Other Resources

None

Programme or List of Programmes

BHS	Bachelor of Science in Health & Society
BSSA	Study Abroad (DCU Business School)
BSSAO	Study Abroad (DCU Business School)
ECSA	Study Abroad (Engineering & Computing)
ECSAO	Study Abroad (Engineering & Computing)
HMSA	Study Abroad (Humanities & Soc Science)
HMSAO	Study Abroad (Humanities & Soc Science)
IESA	Study Abroad (Institute of Education)
IESAO	Study Abroad (Institute of Education)
SHSA	Study Abroad (Science & Health)
SHSAO	Study Abroad (Science & Health)

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