PCOL200

042263

Drugs shape society. Drugs can prevent and cure mortal diseases and have dramatically increased human lifespan, thereby forever changing the fabric of society and civilization. Drugs have evolved alongside human inquiry and have informed many areas: medicine, science, art, justice, and policy.

The consequences of drug use or pharmacotherapy, intended and unintended, may alleviate pain and ward off death, while at the same time contribute to pain and death. Such are the complexities of small molecules ingested often in vanishingly small amounts. While the effects may appear magical, they are rooted in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

In this course we will use examples of drugs that shaped humanity to examine the underlying biologic mechanisms and pharmacologic principles that underlie the drug's desired (and undesired) physiologic/psychologic effects. We will attempt to put these drugs in the historical context in which they emerged, how societal modernization provided the foundation for organized, reasoned drug development and the establishment of the pharmaceutical industry. As the course draws to a close, we will examine the likely pharmacologic agents and approaches that will impact society in the near future.

GRD - Regular Grades A, B, C, D, E

Undergraduate