DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Module 5 OverviewContext

Content Area: Policy Decisions about Drug Use/Abuse Issues

Essential Question (Generic): What should be done when preventable causes of disease are found?

Essential Question (Drug Abuse Specific): What should be done when preventable causes of drug abuse are found?

Enduring Epidemiological Understanding: Policy decisions are based on more than the scientific evidence. Because of competing values - social, economic, ethical, environmental, cultural, and political factors may also be considered.

Synopsis:

In Module 5, students explore specific drug policy questions and become aware of the factors that influence their own and others' positions on those questions.

Lessons:

Lesson 5-1: Individual and Societal Decision Making

Lesson 5-2: Drug Policy Question - Should needle exchange programs be implemented?

Lesson 5-3: Drug Policy Question - Should high school students be drug tested?

Lesson 5-4: Drug Policy Question - Should D.A.R.E. be taught in all schools?

Lesson 5-5: Drug Policy Question - Should marijuana be legal for medical purposes?

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Module 5 - Policy Decisions about Drug Use/Abuse

Lesson 5-1 Individual and Societal Decision Making

Content

• How scientific literacy is connected to individual and societal decision-making

• Definitions and discussion about policy, risk perception and the acceptability or unacceptability of risk

Big Ideas

• In a democratic society, a scientifically literate population is better able to make informed decisions about issues of public health

• Societal decisions about acceptability versus unacceptability of risk often consider other factors besides the actual magnitude of that risk

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Essential Questions Enduring Understandings

1. How is this disease distributed?

Health-related conditions and behaviors are not distributed uniformly in a population. They have unique distributions that can be described by how they are distributed in terms of person, place, and time.

2. What hypotheses might explain the distribution of disease?

Clues for formulating hypotheses can be found by observing the way a health-related condition or behavior is distributed in a population.

3. Is there an association between the hypothesized cause and the disease?

Causal hypotheses can be tested by observing exposures and diseases of people as they go about their daily lives. Information from these observational studies can be used to make and compare rates and identify associations.

4. Is the association causal?

Causation is only one explanation for an association between an exposure and a disease. Because observational studies are complicated by factors not controlled by the observer, other explanations also must be considered.

5. What should be done when preventable causes of disease are found?

Policy decisions are based on more than the scientific evidence. Because of competing values - social, economic, ethical, environmental, cultural, and political factors may also be considered.

Where are we?

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Enduring Understanding

Policy decisions are based on more than the scientific evidence.

Because of competing values – social, economic, ethical, environmental, cultural,

and political factors may also be considered.

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Policy

A course or principle of action adopted or proposed by

a government, party, business, or individual

John M. Last, A Dictionary of Public Health

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Policy

A course or principle of action adopted or proposed by

a government, party, business, or individual

John M. Last, A Dictionary of Public Health

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Drug Policy

A course or principle of action adopted or proposed by a government, party, business, or individual

that affects drug use

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Democracy

Government by the people; especially rule of the majority

A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a

system of representation usually involving periodically held free

elections

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/democracy

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Democracy Philosopher - King

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Democracy

“It is both the glory and the burden of democracy that lay citizens must make the final choice.”

Citizen - Kings / Citizen - Queens

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

The probability that an event will occur

Risk

John M. Last, A Dictionary of Public Health

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

One’s feeling or opinion about the existence or size of a risk

One’s estimate of the likelihood that an undesirable consequence, associated with some activity, will occur within

a period of time

Risk Perception

John M. Last, A Dictionary of Public Health

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

The degree to which an individual or society is willing to tolerate the existence

of something that poses a danger

Acceptable Risk

John M. Last, A Dictionary of Public Health

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

The degree to which an individual or society is unwilling to tolerate the existence

of something that poses a danger

Unacceptable Risk

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Pollan, Michael. “The Way We Live Now: A Very Fine Line,” New York Times Magazine, September 12, 1999

You would be hard-pressed to explain the taxonomy of chemicals

underpinning the drug war to an extraterrestrial.

Unacceptable Risk

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Pollan, Michael. “The Way We Live Now: A Very Fine Line,” New York Times Magazine, September 12, 1999

Is it, for example, addictiveness that causes this society to condemn a drug? (No; nicotine is legal, and millions of Americans have battled addictions to prescription drugs.)

Unacceptable Risk

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Is it, for example, addictiveness that causes this society to condemn a drug? (No; nicotine is legal, and millions of Americans have battled addictions to prescription drugs.) So then, our inquisitive alien might ask, is safety the decisive factor? (Not really; over-the-counter and prescription drugs kill more than 45,000 Americans every year while, according to The New England Journal of Medicine, "There is no risk of death from smoking marijuana.")

Unacceptable Risk

Pollan, Michael. “The Way We Live Now: A Very Fine Line,” New York Times Magazine, September 12, 1999

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Is it, for example, addictiveness that causes this society to condemn a drug? (No; nicotine is legal, and millions of Americans have battled addictions to prescription drugs.) So then, our inquisitive alien might ask, is safety the decisive factor? (Not really; over-the-counter and prescription drugs kill more than 45,000 Americans every year while, according to The New England Journal of Medicine, "There is no risk of death from smoking marijuana.") Is it drugs associated with violent behavior that your society condemns? (If so, alcohol would still be illegal.)

Unacceptable Risk

Pollan, Michael. “The Way We Live Now: A Very Fine Line,” New York Times Magazine, September 12, 1999

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Is it, for example, addictiveness that causes this society to condemn a drug? (No; nicotine is legal, and millions of Americans have battled addictions to prescription drugs.) So then, our inquisitive alien might ask, is safety the decisive factor? (Not really; over-the-counter and prescription drugs kill more than 45,000 Americans every year while, according to The New England Journal of Medicine, "There is no risk of death from smoking marijuana.") Is it drugs associated with violent behavior that your society condemns? (If so, alcohol would still be illegal.) Perhaps, then, it is the promise of pleasure that puts a drug beyond the pale? (That would once again rule out alcohol, as well as Viagra.)

Unacceptable Risk

Pollan, Michael. “The Way We Live Now: A Very Fine Line,” New York Times Magazine, September 12, 1999

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Is it, for example, addictiveness that causes this society to condemn a drug? (No; nicotine is legal, and millions of Americans have battled addictions to prescription drugs.) So then, our inquisitive alien might ask, is safety the decisive factor? (Not really; over-the-counter and prescription drugs kill more than 45,000 Americans every year while, according to The New England Journal of Medicine, "There is no risk of death from smoking marijuana.") Is it drugs associated with violent behavior that your society condemns? (If so, alcohol would still be illegal.) Perhaps, then, it is the promise of pleasure that puts a drug beyond the pale? (That would once again rule out alcohol, as well as Viagra.) Then maybe the molecules you despise are the ones that alter the texture of consciousness, or even a human's personality? (Tell that to someone who has been saved from depression by Prozac.)

Unacceptable Risk

Pollan, Michael. “The Way We Live Now: A Very Fine Line,” New York Times Magazine, September 12, 1999

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Is it, for example, addictiveness that causes this society to condemn a drug? (No; nicotine is legal, and millions of Americans have battled addictions to prescription drugs.) So then, our inquisitive alien might ask, is safety the decisive factor? (Not really; over-the-counter and prescription drugs kill more than 45,000 Americans every year while, according to The New England Journal of Medicine, "There is no risk of death from smoking marijuana.") Is it drugs associated with violent behavior that your society condemns? (If so, alcohol would still be illegal.) Perhaps, then, it is the promise of pleasure that puts a drug beyond the pale? (That would once again rule out alcohol, as well as Viagra.) Then maybe the molecules you despise are the ones that alter the texture of consciousness, or even a human's personality? (Tell that to someone who has been saved from depression by Prozac.)

Unacceptable Risk

Pollan, Michael. “The Way We Live Now: A Very Fine Line,” New York Times Magazine, September 12, 1999

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Individual and Societal Decision Making

Drug Policy Questions

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Scientific LiteracyA scientifically literate person is someone who:

National Research Council.  (1996)  National Science Education Standards, Washington, DC:  National Academy Press.

… can ask, find, or determine answers to questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences 

… has the ability to describe, explain, and predict natural phenomenon 

… is able to read with understanding articles about science in the popular press and to engage in social conversation about the validity of their conclusions 

… can identify scientific issues underlying national and local decisions and express positions that are scientifically and technologically informed 

… (is) able to evaluate the quality of scientific information on the basis of its source and the methods used to generate it 

… (has) the capacity to pose and evaluate arguments based on evidence and to apply conclusions from such arguments appropriately

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Drug Policy Question Assignment

Enduring Understanding

Policy decisions are based on more than the scientific evidence.

Because of competing values – social, economic, ethical, environmental, cultural,

and political factors may also be considered.

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Pre – Drug Policy Question Assignment Survey

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Needle Exchange Programs

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Drug Policy Question Position

Should needle exchange programs be implemented?

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Enduring Understanding

Policy decisions are based on more than the scientific evidence.

Because of competing values; social, economic, ethical, environmental, cultural,

and political factors may also be considered.

Individual and Societal Decision Making

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

Big Ideas in this Lesson (5-1)

• In a democratic society, a scientifically literate population is better able to make informed decisions about issues of public health

• Societal decisions about acceptability versus unacceptability of risk often consider other factors besides the actual magnitude of that risk

Re-Cap

DrugEpi 5-1 Introduction to Policy Lessons

   

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