Controversies in Pharmacology

This class lesson planner and collection of student essays are the product of a unique undergraduate course at the University of Arizona, a highly regarded research-intensive institution in Tucson. In this class, students demonstrated an understanding of topics reflecting society's deepest conundrums founded in pharmacology and basic science which affect all of us directly or tangentially via decisions made by health and medical policy leaders. This book "curates" those topics and offers thoughtful persuasive essays written by undergraduate students who share their ideas about controversies in pharmacology that confound and complicate our human existence. Topics were chosen for cultural and sociological relevance, importance to young persons, and value to students in the prime "season" of formulating lasting opinions to life's problems and potential solutions. Topics include lethal injection; Ru-486; conscience clauses in medicine; scheduling drugs; addiction; compassionate or expanded drug use; medicating others for our benefit; medicalization of society; opioid epidemic; online drug purchasing, placebo and nocebo effects; drug advertising, pricing, and prescribing, and supplements; and homeopathy.