drugepi 5-5 policy question: medical marijuana module 5 overview context content area: policy...

DrugEpi 5-5 Policy Question: Medical Marijuana

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.

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?


Module 5 - Policy Decisions about Drug Use/Abuse

Lesson 5-5 Drug Policy Question:

Should Marijuana be Legal for Medical Purposes?

Content

• Explanation of 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

• Application of Drug Policy question Assignment to question, Should marijuana be legal for medical purposes?

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• The issue of whether or not marijuana should be legal for medical purposes is

controversial with powerful arguments on both sides This project is supported by a Science Education Drug Abuse Partnership Award, Grant Number 1R24DA016357-01,

from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health.


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?


Drug Policy Question

Should marijuana be legal for medical purposes?

Individual and Societal Decision Making

A. Orientation to the Enduring Understanding Slides

B. Drug Policy Question “Hip Pocket” Slides

C. Drug Policy Question Summary Slides


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.



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



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



Drug Policy

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

that affects drug use



Pre-Drug Policy Question Assignment Survey Summary





As part of the Investigational New Drug Program , this patient has been allowed to smoke marijuana to relieve the pain from a rare bone disorder.


I



Gonzales v. Raich



This report summarizes and analyzes what is known about the medical use of marijuana; it emphasizes evidence-based medicine, as opposed to belief-based medicine.



Recommendation

Research should continue into the physiological effects of synthetic and plant-derived cannabinoids and the natural function of cannabinoids found in the

body.



Recommendation

Psychological effects of cannabinoids such as anxiety reduction and sedation, which can influence medical benefits,

should be evaluated in clinical trials.



Recommendation

Clinical trials of short-term marijuana use (less than six months) for medical purposes

should be conducted under limited circumstances.



Recommendation

Short-term use of smoked marijuana (less than six months) for patients with debilitating symptoms

(such as intractable pain or vomiting) can be permitted under certain conditions.



Recommendation

Clinical trials of cannabinoid drugs for symptom management should be conducted with the goal of developing

rapid-onset, reliable, and safe delivery systems.



How would you determine whether or not Sativex is belief-based or evidence-based medicine?

How would you test the effectiveness?



Time

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Healthy People

-

Healthy People

E

Random Assignment

E

DZ

DZ

DZ

DZ

Controlled Trial

Time

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Healthy People

-

Healthy People

E

E

DZ

DZ

DZ

DZ

Cohort Study

Time

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Case-Control Study

-

DZ

DZ

E

E

E

E

Time

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Cross-Sectional Study

-

E

E

DZ

DZ

d

b

c

a



9010

9010

b

d

a

c

or

or

%

%

Total

Sativex

No Sativex

No PainPain

Risk of Pain

Relative Risk

1



9010

9010

b

d

a

c

or

or

%

%

Total

Sativex

No Sativex

Risk of Pain

Relative Risk

> 1


No PainPain


9010

9010

b

d

a

c

or

or

%

%

Total

Sativex

No Sativex

Risk of Pain

Relative Risk

< 1


No PainPain


In Favor of




In Favor of Against




In Favor of Against


Scientific Social

Economic Ethical

Environmental

Cultural

Political



In Favor of Against


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.



Write a Brief Statement


Forces that Influenced Your Position


Post-Drug Policy Question Assignment Survey




Pre-Drug Policy Question Assignment Survey




Pre- and Post Drug Policy Question Assignment Survey Summaries




Democracy

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

Citizen - Kings / Citizen - Queens



Big Ideas in this Lesson (5-5)

• 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

• The issue of whether or not marijuana should be legal for medical purposes is controversial with powerful arguments on both sides

Re-Cap


End of Module 5

Democracy

drugepi 5-5 policy question: medical marijuana module 5 overview context content area: policy...

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