Gordon Drug Abuse Prevention
The purpose is to help inform the public, the media, and those in positions of public responsibility of the challenges facing the nation as a result of the widespread use of psychoactive and mood-altering substances, including marijuana, other hallucinogens, opiates, and designer drugs. The harmful effects of these substances have not been well understood. In fact, there is great ignorance of the harmful effects of marijuana and other drugs that are being used for experimental or recreational purposes. Information concerning the effects of marijuana on the endocrine and reproductive systems alone should be enough to dissuade anyone from using or promoting the use or the legalization of the use of all substances containing cannabis, CBD, and hemp. See the work of Dr. Stuart Reece and Dr. Gary Hulse on these topics, including the review by Dr. Reece posted next to this message. I also commend your attention to the work of Christine Miller, Ph.D., including The Impact of Marijuana on Mental Health in: Contemporary Health Issues on Marijuana (Oxford University Press, 2018) and the work of Alex Berenson, Tell Your Children the Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence (Free Press, 2019).
Of particular importance to all those who are engaged in drug abuse prevention and education efforts is the following two hour and twenty-minute video exchange between Dr. Volkow and the Dalai Lama that took place in Dharamshala in 2013. See this most extraordinary video . It provides an in depth understanding of the process of addiction to psychoactive drugs and most importantly, in the last half hour, the video provides insight into approaches that can prove key to addicts, users, and experimenters becoming free of drug use and regaining their humanity and moral compass; their initiative, creativity, will power, and judgment; their authentic self; and their lives.
(A 3-Week Online Course) – In this three-week online course has been designed to help arm those who are concerned about the harmful effects of marijuana and about the negative individual and societal impacts of the legalization of marijuana is having on individuals, families, communities, and on society. The course has also been designed to help expand the knowledge and understanding of those who are working to address the problem of recreational drug use and addiction in America so that they can be as successful as possible in their efforts. The course is also designed to help those in the position of public responsibility understand the wide range of harmful mental and physical effects of marijuana as well as societal impacts. New research will be highlighted concerning ways in which marijuana use is rendering users more susceptible to the coronavirus and its most serious effects. The course also highlights policy and program options that have been working and what options might be tried to achieve the hoped-for outcome of turning around current trends involving the use marijuana in America.
- “A National Public Health Disaster: Drug Abuse, Addiction, the Opioid Crisis, and the Coronavirus Pandemic ~ The Role that Marijuana Use and Legalization are Playing” (A 4-Week Online Course) –
(An Elective Course in the Auburn University Outreach Emergency Management Certificate Program. The course can also be taken as a stand-alone course.)
Course Description:
The role that exposure to and the use of marijuana are playing in the opioid epidemic will be highlighted along with the role that cartels and the black market are playing. See the Letter to Members of the Canadian Parliament (for the research findings, studies, and investigative reporting that provides evidence concerning these connections.
The tendencies of public officials to narrowly define the problem and not see the role that marijuana and poly-drug use are having in the drug addiction and opioid crisis are highlighted in the course. A broader way of defining the challenges associated with drug taking behavior and addiction will be featured, along with exemplary approaches to addressing the Drug Crisis. New research will be highlighted concerning ways in which marijuana use is rendering users more susceptible to the coronavirus and its most serious effects.
For more information and to register, go to http://www.auburn.edu/outreach/opce/emergencymgmt/#courses and https://opce.catalog.auburn.edu/courses/c210712c for the course beginning November 7. You may also call (334) 844-5100 for information.
Contact Dr. Paula Gordon at (202) 241 0631
