Cannabis & Society (CSO)

This course will provide an overview of the historical and contemporary relationship between cannabis and public health. Topics included in this course encompass a grounding of the role of cannabis in the War on Drugs. The course will cover the personal and environmental factors related to cannabis use. The course will introduce students to cannabis use within a range of legal and illicit substances that are used by people for recreational and medicinal purposes. Finally, issues around cannabis policy at the local, state and federal level will be discussed. The course combines pre-recorded lectures, discussion boards, and virtual meetings.

This course will serve as a survey course of cannabis policy at the federal, state, and local levels. The goal is for students to understand the politics behind the cannabis reform debate and the policy outcomes that emerge from those debates. While many voters believe that the choice whether to legalize cannabis for medical- or adult-use is the end of the policy conversation, it really marks the beginning of a longer process. Creating, implementing and enforcing a cannabis regulatory system is the most arduous, complicated and important portions of this area of policy. Over the course of this semester, we will identify the major regulatory questions and areas that state and local governments encounter and examine the solutions governments have devised. We will compare and contrast these efforts to identify where regulatory choices work, where they do not, and how they can be improved.

Students will research, analyze and participate in activities related to the history of cannabis and drug prohibition and the complex and integral politics, policies, and narratives behind the movement to create equitable cannabis markets around the country. The course will highlight and examine successes and shortcomings of unique equity and reparative frameworks across several cities and states; highlighting the ongoing shifts and evolution of equity initiatives that continue to influence a volatile multi-billion dollar market.