Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor P. Cohen

J.D. Course 368 (cross-listed) | 2 credit hours

The use and abuse of psychotropic (mind-altering) drugs is an integral part of the human experience. Society has long viewed substance abuse through many eyes: criminal activity, moral failing, illness and disability, the fulfillment of religious expression, or simply the exercise of individual liberty. Nonetheless whether the drugs involved are “legal” or “illicit,” substance abuse is a major public health hazard. This course will engage in a thorough and thoughtful discussion of the major legal, medical, ethical, political, and policy considerations faced by society as it deals with substance abuse. First, the course will address the history and basic science of drug dependence (addiction). Next, it will explore the balancing of individual liberty and autonomy with the needs of society, essential to the discipline of public health. We will then examine the role of criminalization in an area that some authorities believe should be treated as a medical problem. We will focus on the question of whether society’s eagerness to eliminate drug abuse has eroded such fundamental liberties as freedom from unreasonable searches, privacy (articulated by Justice Brandeis as “the right to be left alone”), and even the invasion of reproductive autonomy. This area of concentration will also focus on disproportionate and draconian sentencing as well as the potential role of racism in drug-related criminal law. Next, the course will elaborate on the “medicalization” of substance abuse through the application of disability law. Finally, if substance abuse is, at least in part, a medical and public health problem, it should be amenable to therapy similar to other medical conditions. Therefore, we will conclude by asking why society has not yet granted parity to substance abuse (or whether it should grant such parity) when formulating regulations for research and treatment of this condition.