Addiction and drugs

Course goals

The students learn to recognize different frameworks from which to understand addiction and drug use within the contexts of health care and society. Students get acquainted with an interdisciplinary approach to addiction, different methods of substance, medicine and addiction research, and the role of medical professions in drug regulation.

Content

For centuries people have used substances to relax, to forget, to dare or to dream. Nicotine and alcohol are most common intoxicants. Around 85% Dutch over 16-year-olds drink a glass of alcohol regularly and 24% of them smoke. The remarkable consumption of psychoactive drugs can be traced in addiction statistics, but also in drug consumption statistics. Addiction treatment is having a hard time keeping up with the demand for treatment. But at what point does drinking, smoking, or any other substance use stop being social? And where does the problematic trajectory of persistent and unbridled use start? What causes one person to become an addict, whereas another person doesn’t? What makes it so difficult to kick the habit? What is the role of the pharmacist in all of this? In the context of this course, we will critically engage with these questions and provide practical handles for medical professionals to deal with addiction and substance use