Module 3: The Law and Why Drugs Work - Chapters 3 & 5

These two chapters were very informative. I did not know that the reason for the FDA getting control over drug safety was because a drug company produced a toxic product that had killed 107 people. Unfortunately that had to happen for our drugs to become safer.
 I also did not know that a few countries have used strangulation as a penalty for smoking tobacco or opium. This link give us some insight as to why this may have been used as punishment.
http://jds.cass.cn/Item/5703.aspx
I knew about placebos and why they are needed for studies, but I did not know that they could actually cause people to think that they work for pain. It is amazing to me how perception can play a role in your health. This link explains how the Placebo Effect works and is pretty interesting to read.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-sense/201201/the-placebo-effect-how-it-works
One thing I did learn from the discussion group is that there are some strong opinions on drug testing in the workplace. You always think that you know what is right, but when you read someones personal experience with the cons of drug testing, it makes you think.

I feel like I did spend the required amount of time on this module. I enjoy doing research and learning new information that I would not have had the opportunity to be exposed to otherwise.
The only suggestion I might be able to give to the others in this class is to proof read what they are writing. It is very hard to follow and understand a post when it it run on sentences or improper use of punctuation. I find those posts to be difficult to respond to.

I did not know about the word cross tolerance. I never knew that you could become tolerant to depressants if you are a heavy drinker. It is scary to think that people may not know this and if they try experimenting with drugs while drinking that they may need an excessive dose to get any kind of result from that drug. To me, it seems like that is a recipe for overdose.
I also did not know about interdiction. You always hear about the war on drugs, but I did not know that in 2009, the budget for interdiction was $3.83 Billion. All of this money being spent on trying to decrease the amount of drug trafficking that takes place and there was still no indication that the availability of drugs had diminished significantly. I am always amazed at how much money is spent from our government that we really are not aware of.