Summer 2021

For my PSYCH 202 "Biopsychology in the world" project, we were given the freedom to explore any topic of our choosing. I chose drug addiction and found many interesting connections ranging from topics in public health, neuroscience, bioethics, law enforcement, and social services. The issues I studied most heavily consisted of difficult and polarizing topics, such as safe injection sites and the stark contrast between nearly unanimous opinions of necessary change to social services in published research compared to the general public's hesitancy for change despite the growing problem. 

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There were a lot of issues that I discussed in the summaries to the right, but on of the fundamental points was how drug addiction in the US is treated as a law enforcement problem, when in reality it should be faced as a public health problem no different from how we drastically decreased smoking habits in the last few decades. However, the political system that we have has a heavy hand in public health, which is becoming a recurring theme throughout much of my studies.