There is a lot of baggage attached to the word ‘drug’. The word often calls to mind images of addicts.
Skinny, bruised, homeless, dirty, out of time, and out of luck.
Often, when faced with images of addicts, people comment on a perceived lack of willpower in the user. Frequently they will even mention the users parents and speculate on the home life of the user as a child.
At Emory University we are not satisfied with using availability heuristics when discussing serious problems and issues of the human condition. We are not content to file away the complex issue of psychoactive substances and their effect on the physiology, psychology, and behavior of humans and non-human animals into the single word ‘will-power’.
Psych 323: Drugs and Behavior is one course among many that offers a scholarly perspective on psychoactive drugs. This blog is to chronicle the way students perceptions and knowledge about drugs and addiction changes over a semester as well as to provide a forum for public discussion regarding contemporary issues in drug research and policy.
Please feel free to leave a comment at any time, but realize that some comments may be deleted if they do not further the discussion in a productive and judgement free way.