In this task you watch a documentary about the action and applications of aspirin. Afterward you answer a number of questions concerning the documentary.

This unit looks at two topics that are of immense worldwide social, economic, ethical, and political importance – ‘addiction’ and ‘neural ageing’. You will develop a Master's level approach to the study of specific issues within these two important subject areas.

Examines the relationship between drugs, politics, and society in cross-cultural perspective; use of mind-altering and habit-forming substances by "traditional societies"; the development of a global trade in sugar, opium, and cocaine with the rise of capitalism; and the use and abuse of alcohol, LSD, and Prozac in the US. Finishes by looking at the war on drugs, shifting attitudes to tobacco, and by evaluating America's drug laws.

This class examines the relationship between a number of mind-altering substances and cultural processes. We look at the relationship between drugs and such phenomena as poverty, religion, technology, inter-generational conflict, colonialism, and global capitalism. We read about the physiological and psychological effects of these substances -- ranging from alcohol to LSD, cocaine and ecstasy -- and ask why different societies prohibit and sanction different drugs. We examine the use of mind-altering substances in a number of "traditional" societies, and follow the development of a global trade in such substances as sugar, coffee, tea, nicotine, cocaine, and marijuana concurrent with the evolution of global capitalism. We look at the use of LSD as a mind-control substance by the CIA and as a mind-altering substance in the 1960's counter-culture, and we look at the rise of Prozac® and Viagra® as popular, if controversial, pharmaceutical products in recent years. Finally, we evaluate America's current drug laws.

Hashish is a form of cannabis, or marijuana. The hashish has been blended into food in this case. Marijuana can cause depression and schizophrenia. As for long-term use, marijuana can cause cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and brain abnormalities.

The Gold Rush era was marked by lawlessness: duels, murders in broad daylight, public hangings, jail breakouts, and vigilantism were everyday occurrences. The images in this group are a vivid record of those times. Included here are photographs of convicted murderers like James Egan, who was sent to San Quentin for 35 years for killing a man in a saloon brawl; and John "Chicken" Devine, who beat a man to death with a rock. A newspaper article reports that former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California David. S. Terry killed US Senator David C. Broderick in a duel, and a half-page drawing depicts the crime. Men weren't the only criminals: pickpockets Jennie Hastings and Dolly Mickey are also represented here. Law officers were in short supply, and laws were not uniformly enforced. Some men ? such as those in the photograph "Sharpshooters of the Vigilante Committee" ? took the law into their own hands, enforcing "justice" as they saw fit. They posted public notices like the "Warning!" sign, which threatens hanging as retribution for "pilfering, robbing, stealing, or any act of lawless violence." Several images portray individuals "rescued from the authorities" and hanged ? before being tried or even given a hearing for the crimes of which they were accused. Drugs were also part of Gold Rush communities. As several images show, people sometimes smoked opium in underground opium dens. And, as one photograph makes clear, opium smoking crossed racial and cultural boundaries. Eventually, law-abiding citizens grew weary of the uncontrolled murder and mayhem in their rapidly growing communities. As the Gold Rush era drew to an end, people felt that existing legal and judicial institutions had to be strengthened.

Much social controversy in the 1990s has been concerned with how society should respond to poverty, and the related issues of welfare, out of wedlock births, homelessness, crime, and drugs. This course investigates how particular societal responses are a function of the values, political and policy issues, as well as social science findings that are brought to these controversies. The course will examine both what we know about poverty and related behaviors from social science research and how this knowledge is incorporated into public discourse.