A Comprehensive Position on Psychoactive Substances

Assignment #5 100 points _______________________________________________ A Comprehensive Position on Psychoactive Substances

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Preparation: By this point in the course, you have been exposed to a

variety of different sources of information that attempt to contextualize

psychoactive substance use in the United States. You also have written a

number of short essays that focus on different substances and facets of

use. Today’s assignment focuses on your ability to articulate a cohesive

“summary” of your attitudes, beliefs, and understanding based on these

experiences.

Your Assignment: You have been hired by a non-partisan “think tank” to

draft a position statement on psychoactive substances in the United

States. This statement will be distributed to congress, members of the

media, judicial agencies, public health agencies, and other interested

parties. The purpose of the statement is to encourage a paradigm shift –

to suggest a new way of thinking about psychoactive substances, or, if

you wish, to reinforce current ways of thinking. Content for this statement

should include (examples are provided on the reverse of this sheet):

- What is the psychoactive substance that is most important to

address in the United States? Choose one.

- What current strategies address use of that substance?

- What new strategies do you suggest to address that substance, if

any?

What You Need to Submit:

This assignment should be a minimum of 1,250 words.

Grading:

Thorough examination of the issue 80 points

- Part One (Selection of Most Important) (20)

- Part Two (Current Strategies) (30)

- Part Three (New Strategies) (30)

Grammar/Spelling/Length 20 points

Brief Sample Assignment:

Most Important Substance: Here, I’m looking for you to select a single

substance (i.e., cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, etc…) that you think is

important to address. Then, explain why it is the most important

substance. A shortened example might be: “Marijuana is the most

important substance to address in the United States because it’s the most

contentious in terms of law. In other words, it is the area of the most

conflict between state and federal governments.”

- Then, tell me how you came to this conclusion (i.e., the standard

that you used to determine this).

- Provide examples

Current Strategies: Identify one or two current strategies (such as MLDA 21,

drug scheduling, warning labeling on cigarette packages, etc…) that

have addressed the use of that substance. Then, tie them in to the issue

you identified in the first part of the assignment. For example, “Marijuana

remains illegal at the federal level with no accepted medical uses. This is

because the FDA has stated that it will never approve a smoked

substance as a medical product. However, this quickly is becoming a law

without teeth, as the federal government has not yet sued Colorado and

Washington to force a change in their state laws…”

- It is acceptable to suggest that no current strategy has been

effective.

- Tie these strategies directly to the substance that you identified.

How does your strategy help/hurt levels of use of that

substance?

o If you claim that no strategy has been effective, explain

why use of that substance cannot be prevented using

current strategies.

New Strategies: Having read your assignments over the past several

weeks, each of you has the knowledge base and capacity to suggest

intelligent new strategies. Be innovative! Introduce a new idea. For

example: “State governments should consider requiring that all current

non-violent drug offenders complete their entire jail terms on probation

while working on supervised skill-appropriate jobs, the income from which

would be garnished and pooled to form a cost-offset fund to mitigate

harm associated with substance-related criminal activity.”

- Provide one reason why people in the United States might

support this strategy (i.e., it appears to respect individual rights)

and one reason others might oppose this strategy (i.e., it might

not be cost-effective).