Basics of Pharmacology
Tuesday January 9	Course introduction, expectations, class survey, view of drugs, views of science & technology.
Thursday January 11	Drug actions, receptors, routes of administration.
Tuesday January 16	Neurons and synapses, autonomic nervous system (ANS), and central nervous system (CNS).
Thursday January 18	Neurotransmitters and drugs that affect them.
History and Culture
Tuesday January 23	What is a drug? Perceptions of drugs.
Thursday January 25	Overview of history and drugs. How drugs are viewed by the media.
Tuesday January 30	Pleasure day. Assignment for February 1: bring in ads from magazines about drugs/ pharmaceuticals.
Thursday February 1	How drugs fit with zeitgeist, media/popular perceptions of drugs, marketing of drugs Student debate: Are antidrug campaigns effective?
Tuesday February 6	Alcohol.
Thursday February 8	Student debate: Should the government more tightly regulate alcohol use? Classification of Drugs and Drug schedules.
Government and Legalization
Tuesday February 13	Test 1: Pharmacology, alcohol, pleasure.
Thursday February 15	Marijuana and legalization. Student debate: Should marijuana be legalized?
Tuesday February 20	Tobacco and the law.
Thursday February 22	FDA discussion. Position paper on FDA due. What drugs should be legal and why?
Tuesday February 27	Herbs, vitamins, and dietary supplements. Student debate: Atheletes and anabolic steroids.
Thursday March 1	Government interference in drug use. Student debate: Drug testing in the workplace. Assignment for March 6: Bring in examples from the media about the acceptability of different drugs based on race or class.
Normalization of America
Tuesday March 6	Concepts of deviance and normality / inside and outside society. Position paper on government's role in drug control due.
Thursday March 8	Movie: Ritalin
March 13 - March 15	Spring Break
Tuesday March 20	Discussion: Ritalin
Thursday March 22	Movie: The Famine Within. Assignment for March 16: Bring in images of over/under/average weight.
Tuesday March 27	Fen/Phen: Physiology/pharmacology of weight control, obesity. American culture and weight obsession.
Thursday March 29	Physiology/pharmacology of weight control, obesity. American culture and weight obsession.
Tuesday April 3	Depression: What is depression? What are available treatments and what is their mechanism of action?
Thursday April 5	Prozac: Religious/moral issues of self, autonomy, personality. Student Debate: Is Prozac overprescribed?
Religion and Drugs
Tuesday April 10	Birth control pills and Viagra. Physiology and pharmacology: What are they? How do they work? How did they change society?
Thursday April 12	BCP: Birth control pills and culture. Father Rick: Catholic church arguments for and against, RU 486.
Tuesday April 17	Test 2: Depression, Weight, ADD, Reproduction
Thursday April 19	Drugs and Religion. Liminality, Religious rituals. Student debate: Should pregnant drug users be prosecuted?
Tuesday April 24	Drugs and our attitudes towards eternal life Final Paper due
Thursday April 26	Control of the internal and external world with drugs.

Return to the Drugstore Society Home Page

© FGCU 2001. This is an official FGCU web page. 
Florida Gulf Coast University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.