Our Long Strange Trip:

Drugs and the Law in America

A series of lectures and debates

SESSION I - September 20th

DO DRUG CLASSIFICATIONS MAKE SCIENTIFIC SENSE? - Listen

Robert Balster , Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, VCU, will address the scientific basis for the classification of illegal drugs, especially from a pharmacological and toxicological perspective.

SESSION II - September 27th

THE HISTORY OF DRUG USE AND REGULATION - Listen to the lecture and discussion

David Courtwright, Presidential Professor, Department of History, University of North Florida, and author of Dark Paradise: A History of Opiate Addiction in America, Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the Modern World, will examine the history of drug use, drug law, and drug enforcement in America .

SESSION III - October 4th

THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE - Listen to the lecture and discussion

Ethan Nadelmann , Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance, will examine how other countries handle narcotic drugs, focusing in particular on innovations that diverge from U. S. policies.

SESSION IV—October 11th

THE DECRIMINALIZATION DEBATE Listen to the Debate (Be patient - it's a big file!)

David Krahl , Deputy Director of the Drug Free America Foundation and Douglas Husak , Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers University and author of Legalize This: The Case for Decriminalizing Drugs, will debate the merits of drug decriminalization.

All sessions will be held in the VCU School of Business Auditorium, 1015 Floyd Avenue

7:00 p.m.

Free and open to the public  

sponsored by

College of Humanities and Sciences Department of Philosophy

www.has.vcu.edu/phi/philos/phi_home.htm

Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies

www.vcu.edu/idas

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