Course Description

[From the catalogue: Positive approaches to achieving alternative states of consciousness with and without drugs; the nonaddictive use of addicting drugs; a balanced assessment of the latest findings on the dangers and benefits of the most widely used nonopiate recreational drugs, such as marijuana, tobacco, caffeine, alcohol, quaaludes, and cocaine; choices for individuals and society regarding the use and control of the substances.]

Most people believe alcohol and illegal drugs cause "addiction." They believe "addiction" is involuntary and characterized by "loss of control" over alcohol and drug consumption. They also believe addiction is a "treatable disease." If you challenge those ideas, you are likely to be labeled ignorant at best and a heretic at worst. In this course, you will comprehend the fiction about drugs and addiction masquerading as fact, and the fact about drugs and addiction most people regard as fiction.

Together, we will examine accurate versus inaccurate definitions of addiction. We will review empirical evidence supporting the idea that people use drugs to change their perception of themselves and the world for existential and psychological reasons, not necessarily for chemical or biological reasons. We will investigate the scientific validity of the claim that addiction is a treatable disease.

We will also examine the religious, moral, and ethical bases of drug use, e.g., how alcohol and drug use becomes a "central activity" in a person's life-and why. We will review how illegal mind-altering drugs and their users are victims of religious and political persecution. Drawing on philosophical, psychoanalytic, sociological, and psychological perspectives, we will investigate existential explanations for why people choose to use drugs as a way to attempt to escape from reality. The semester ends by focusing on what it means to be an autonomous, "heroic," or "self-actualized" person.

In this course you will learn
(1) how drug use is a way to avoid coping with life;
(2) how drug use is a form of self-deception;
(3) how drug use is a religious activity;
(4) how treatment for addiction is a religious activity;
(5) how thinking about drug addiction as a disease is a form of self-deception;
(6) a Buddhist perspective on contemporary psychology and psychiatry to increase understanding of self-imposed suffering and problems-in-living usually labeled "mental illness" and addiction disease;
(7) new ways of self-examination leading to greater consciousness and human fulfillment.
Lecture and discussion format.

Course Objectives

1. To improve the student's scientific and psychologically-oriented thinking about drugs, consciousness and human fulfillment.
2. To evaluate the evidence supporting and contesting the idea that addiction exists, is characterized by involuntariness, and is treatable.
3. To explore the sociological basis for mainstream ideas about addiction, with particular emphasis on the nature and practice of scapegoating.
4. To understand what happens in involuntary treatment for drug addiction.
5. To understand philosophical, psychoanalytic, and psychological perspectives on why people choose to use mind-altering drugs.
6. To comprehend the meaning of being an existentially-heroic individual.
7. To learn about Buddhist perspectives on human suffering and their relation to contemporary western psychological perspectives.
8. To develop skill in debating these and related controversial issues in public policy settings.

Required Texts

1. Becker, E. (1997). The denial of death. New York: Free Press
   
2. Leifer, R. (1997). The happiness project: Transforming the three poisons that cause the suffering we inflict on ourselves and others. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Press.
   
3. Schaler, J.A. (2000). Addiction is a choice. Chicago: Open Court
   
4. Szasz, T. (1985). Ceremonial chemistry: The ritual persecution of drugs, addicts, and pushers. Revised edition. Holmes Beach, Fl.: Learning Publications, Inc.