“Drug and Alcohol Addiction: A Bio-psycho-social Approach” is a one unit DeCal course that introduces students to the dominant discourses surrounding drug addiction and the popular methods utilized by healthcare professionals in addressing the issue. During this course, students will explore a variety of themes including: stigma of addiction, comorbidity of mental health issues and addiction, relapse, biological processes of addiction, and a number of other topics. The purpose of this course is to provide students with a basis for understanding underlying causes of drug addiction and critically analyzing misconceptions that stem from this often contentious topic. This course is intended for anyone who has an interest in learning more about drug addiction, including those who have personally been affected by the issue and/or those who wish to work with individuals suffering from addiction.

1. Students will be assigned 10 weekly reflection responses relating to each week’s reading assignments. Each reading response should be ½ page double space in 12 point Times New Roman font with 1 inch margins.
2. Short Essay: Students will be assigned to write a 1 page paper critically analyzing the portrayal of addiction in the documentary Rehab and the resulting impact that this portrayal would have on an audience member unfamiliar with addiction. The paper should have 12 point Times New Roman font with 1 inch margins.
3. Presentation: Students will select a drug or classification of drugs for a 2 to 3 minute presentation. In the presentation, the student should briefly summarize: the origins of the drug and the biological impact of the drug on the human body.

You can enter the class by attending the first meeting of the semester. If there are more than 20 people who would like to enter the class, we would like everyone to write a short letter/application describing why they want to be in the class and what they can contribute to the class.