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Renison University College

Affiliated with the University of Waterloo 240 Westmount Road N, Waterloo, ON

Canada N2L 3G4

Phone: 519-884-4404 | Fax: 519-884-5135 | uwaterloo.ca/Renison

Renison University College Land Acknowledgement

With gratitude, we acknowledge that Renison University College is located on

the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (also known as Neutral),

Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples, which is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes ten

kilometres on each side of the Grand River.

Winter 2019

Course Code: SDS 450R

Course Title: Social Ideas and Social Policy on Addiction in Canada

Class Times/Location: Monday 2:30-5:20 REN 2918

Instructor

Instructor: Dr. Catherine Briggs Office: PAS 1236

Office Phone: 519-888-4567 X37018 Office Hours: Monday 12:30-1:20

Email:

Course Description

This course will examine social ideas and responses to addicts and addiction

in Canada utilizing an inter-disciplinary approach. The course will begin with

an historical examination of the evolution of social understandings of

addiction, highlighting how concepts of race, ethnicity, class, moral

“character”/degeneracy, and illness or medical condition intersected and

ultimately shaped the social policy responses which were characterized by

stigmatization, marginalization and criminalization. The second part of the

course will focus on contemporary debates among academics, government

and advocacy and social service groups. While addiction is primarily

understood as a medical issue and the dominant social policy approach is

treatment, stigmatization and blame as well as the ongoing intersection of the

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criminal justice system in responding to issues surrounding addiction has led

to a contentious debate on how best to treat addiction and ameliorate the

significant social and individual impacts.

Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

A. Students will develop a critical understanding of the evolution of ideas

and social responses to addiction and addicts up to the present.

B. Students will further develop a critical understanding of present day

debates and policy responses to addiction.

Each student will further develop an indepth and critical

assessment of one area of contemporary policy debate.

C. Students will utilize and analyse both multi-disciplinary academic

sources and a wide range of other sources in order to discern the

perspectives of different stakeholders in policy debate.

Required Text

The required readings for this course are from scholarly journals,

government departments, media and/or news, medical and/or social

service agencies and come from a range of disciplines and policy

participants. The complete citation for each reading and the date/week

for which it is assigned is listed below in the Course Schedule. All of

the readings can be accessed electronically, either on-line or through

the university library.

Course Requirements and Assessment

Assessment Date of Evaluation (if known)

Weighting

Participation 10 X 3% Each 30%

Seminar Leadership TBD 20% Source Analysis February 25 20%

Critical Essay April 18 30%

Total 100%

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Participation

This course is structured as a seminar and thus active participation by all

students in each class is required and crucial in order to develop an effective

analysis and understanding of course themes, topics and issues. Students

are expected to come to class having thoroughly read and evaluated the

assigned readings and materials. Students are also expected to have

prepared several (4-5) questions or points for discussion relating to the main

topics or issues that they discerned in the readings. Beginning in Week 2,

each student will be assigned a grade for their participation in each seminar

(10 weeks X 3% each week). The grade for participation will be based on

active participation in the discussion and level of analysis and relevance of

the student’s comment and questions/points for discussion.

Seminar Presentation/Leadership

Each student will present and lead one seminar for one hour. At the first

class, students can pick the topic and date on which they prefer to lead. The

seminar leader will research some additional sources relating to that week’s

topic and present these additional findings to the class (for approximately 15

minutes at the beginning). These additional sources can include (but are not

limited to) news stories, opinion pieces, websites from social service

agencies, government sources, and films/video. The student will briefly

summarize the sources to the class, highlighting how these sources add

additional information, interpretation, and/or perspective to that found in the

assigned readings. The student will then facilitate the discussion for the

remaining time. Note that students are not graded on their ability to

facilitate but rather on the main points, themes, ideas that they are adding

to the topic. It is highly recommended that the student develop questions

and topics for discussion to direct to the class members.

Source Analysis

The source analysis should be approximately 7 pages in length, double-

spaced with a standard character size and font. Note that the page limit is a

guideline. Students can exceed the 7 pages if necessary.

For this assignment, students are required to pick one of the week topics

from weeks 2 through 6. The student will find an additional source on that

topic that presents a perspective or opinion (as opposed to an academic

and/or unbiased assessment). Primary sources (ie. materials created during

the time period that it speaks to) are good possible choices. The chosen

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source can be one of the materials introduced to that class either through

the instructor or other students or it can be a one the student has found

independently.

The purpose of the assignment is to outline the opinion or perspective that is

being presented and how it relates to the topic of that week and the other

readings assigned for that week. The analysis of the source should reveal

how the perspective reveals attitudes and/or values surrounding addiction in

that time period and how these attitudes/values are a reflection of the larger

social, political, and economic context of the time period (the historical

context revealed in the assigned scholarly readings).

Critical Essay

The critical essay should be approximately 12-15 pages in length, double-

spaced with a standard character size and font. Note that this page limit is

also a guideline.

For the assignment, students will pick one of the contemporary issues or

debates in social policy surrounding addiction. Students can pick one of the

issues covered in weeks 7 through 11 or can pick an issue not covered in the

course material (however, if the latter is chosen, please consult with the

instructor).

The purpose of the essay is to present a critical and comprehensive analysis

of one contemporary debate in social policy on addiction. The essay should

analyse the various arguments as well as the evidence on the issue put

forward by the various stakeholders/participants. Students can use the

course readings on that topic as a starting point but will need to access

additional sources to thoroughly analyse the policy debate.

Course Outline

Week Date Topic Readings Due

1 Jan

7-11

Introduction to the

Course Discussion: Video

“Mothers losing

children to fentanyl overdoses speak

out” https://globalnews.

No Readings.

5

Week Date Topic Readings Due

ca/tag/fentanyl-

making-a-killing/

2 Jan 14-

18

The Debate Around Opium Use and

Importation and the Development of

Canada’s First Drug Laws

Report by W.L. MacKenzie King, C.M.G., Deputy Minister of Labour, on

the Need for the Suppression of the Opium Traffic in Canada

(Government of Canada 1908). [Available on-line at archive.org]

Neil Boyd, “The Origins of Canadian

Narcotics Legislation: The Process of Criminalization in Historical

Perspective”, Dalhousie Law Journal,

1984, 8, 1, 102-136.

Dan Malleck, “Drug Laws and the Creation of Illegality in Canada” in

When Good Drugs Go Bad: Opium, Medicine, and the Origins of Canada’s

Drug Laws (UBC Press 2015), 214-243.

3 Jan 21-

25

Conceptualizing Addiction and

Addicts Film: “Drug Addict”

1948, By Robert Anderson (National

Film Board) Streaming available

through uwaterloo library.

Dan Malleck, “Medicine, Addiction and Ideas of Nation” and “Madness and

Addiction in the Asylums of English Canada” in When Good Drugs Go

Bad: Opium, Medicine, and the Origins of Canada’s Drug Laws (UBC

Press 2015), 109-136, 137-166.

Kyle Grayson, A Genealogy of the Body of the Canadian Drug User, Part

1: From Criminal Addiction to Medicalization” in Chasing dragons

security, identity, and illicit drugs in Canada (UTP 2008), 125-157.

Susan Boyd, “A Canadian perspective on documentary film: Drug Addict”,

International Journal of Drug Policy, 2013, 24, 6, 589-596.

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Week Date Topic Readings Due

4 Jan

28-

Feb 1

Strengthening the

Criminalization of

Drug Use and Addiction, 1920s-

1980s

Catherine Carstairs, “Deporting Ah

Sin to Save the White Race: Moral

Panic, Racialization and the Extension of Canada’s Drug Laws,” Canadian

Bulletin of Medical History 16, no. 1 (1999): 65-88

Selected excerpts from Emily Murphy,

The Black Candle (1922). [Available on-line at archive.org]

Steve Hewitt, "While Unpleasant it is

a Service to Humanity": The RCMP's War on Drugs in the Interwar Period”,

Journal of Canadian Studies. Spring 2004, 38, 2, p80-104.

Catherine Carstairs, “Chapter 4: After a Bnef Struggle: Police

Officers and Drug Users”, in 'Hop Heads' and 'Hypes':Drug Use,

Regulation and Resistance in Canada, 1920-1961. Ph.D. Dissertation. 2000.

Available at: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/o

bj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/NQ53757.pdf

5 Feb

4-8

New and Growing

Concerns about Drugs and Drug

Use 1960s-1980s. Challenges to

Values and Demands for

Legislative Change.

Greg Marquis, “From Beverage to

Drug: Alcohol and Other Drugs in 1960s and 1970s Canada”, in The

real dope social, legal, and historical

perspectives on the regulation of drugs in Canada, ed. Edgar-Andre

Montigny (UTP 2011), 219-241.

Greg Marquis, “Constructing an Urban Drug Ecology in 1970s Canada”,

Urban History Review / Revue d'Histoire Urbaine, Fall2013, 42,1,

p27-40.

Michael Boudreau, “Hippies, Yippies,

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Week Date Topic Readings Due

The Counter-Culture, and The

Gastown Riot in Vancouver, 1968-

71”, BC Studies. Spring 2018, Issue 197, p39-65.

6 Feb 11-

15

Health vs Criminalization in

Drug Policy and Law, 1980s-Present

“Recent trends in Canadian drug policy: The decline and resurgence of

prohibitionism”, Daedalus, Summer92, 121, 3, p239-268.

Diane Riley, Drugs and Drug Policy in

Canada: A Brief Review and Commentary, 1998 .

Available at: www.cfdp.ca/sen1841.htm

Kyle Grayson, A Genealogy of the

Body of the Canadian Drug User, Part 2: From a National Drug Strategy to

Medical Marijuana” in Chasing dragons

security, identity, and illicit drugs in Canada (UTP 2008), 158-196.

Government of Canada, “Strengthening Canada’s Approach to

Substance Use Issues”, Background Document: Public Consultation on

Strengthening Canada’s Approach to Substance Use Issues.

Available at: canada.ca

Feb

18

Family Day

(Holiday)

Feb 19-

22

Winter mid-term study break /

“reading week”

7 Feb

25-Mar 1

Stigma of Addiction

Video: Language

Matters. Creating a

safer space with less stigma.

Available at:

Issue on Stigma and Discrimination,

Visions: BC’s Mental Health and Addictions Journal, Summer 2005, 2,

6.

Available at: www.heretohelp.bc.ca/visions

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Week Date Topic Readings Due

towardtheheart.co

m/reducing-stigma

James D. Livingston, Teresa Milne,

Mei Lan Fang & Erica Amari, “The

effectiveness of interventions for reducing stigma

related to substance use disorders: a systematic review”, Addiction 2011,

107, 39–50. Available at:

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03601.x

Report of the Toronto Drug Strategy

Implementation Panel, “Stigma, Discrimination & Substance Use:

Experiences of people who use alcohol and other

drugs in Toronto”, September 2010.

Available at: www.toronto.ca/wp-

content/uploads/2018/01/93e2-stigmadiscrim_rep_2010_aoda.pdf

8 Mar 4-8

Addiction and the Criminal Justice

System

Drug Treatment and Drug Courts

Dawn Moore, “Considering the Revolving Door: The Inevitability of

Addiction Treatment in the Criminal

Justice System”, in The real dope social, legal, and historical

perspectives on the regulation of drugs in Canada, ed. Edgar-Andre

Montigny (UTP 2011), 242-263.

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Justice and Public Safety,

“Drug Treatment Court Feasibility Study: An Opportunity for Hope”,

May 2017. Available at:

www.justice.gov.nl.ca/just/publications/drug_treatment_court_rpt.pdf

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Week Date Topic Readings Due

Leticia Gutierrez & Guy Bourgon,

“Drug Treatment Courts: A

Quantitative Review of Study and Treatment Quality 2009-04”, Report

Prepared for Public Safety Canada. Available at:

www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/2009-04-dtc/index-en.aspx

9 Mar

11-15

Health and Safety

Focus in Drug and Addiction Policy

Harm Reduction

Radio:

CBC News, “Syringe Exchanges in

Prison: Pros and Cons”, September

28, 2012. Available at:

www.cbc.ca/player/play/2284751759

Report Prepared for the Canadian

Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, “Needle Exchange Programs

in a Community Setting: A Review of

the Clinical and Cost-Effectiveness”, 14 September 2015.

Available at: cadth.ca/sites/default/files/pdf/htis/2

017/RC0705 Needle Exchange in Community Final.pdf

Carol Strike & Miroslav Miskovic,

“Scoping out the literature on mobile needle and syringe programs—review

of service delivery and client characteristics, operation, utilization,

referrals, and impact”, Harm Reduction Journal, 2018, 15: 6.

Available at:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5806231/

Paul Webster, “Canada reveals needle

exchange programme in prisons”, The Lancet, Volume 391, ISSUE

10135, P2095, May 26, 2018. Available at:

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31170-

X/fulltext

10 Mar

18-22

Health and Safety

Focus in Drug and

Kolla, G., Strike, C., Watson,

T.M., Jairam, J., Fischer, B., & Bayoumi, A.M. (2017). “Risk creating

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Week Date Topic Readings Due

Addiction Policy

Harm Reduction

and risk reducing: Community

perceptions of supervised

consumption facilities for illicit drug use.” Health, Risk & Society, 19

(1-2), 91–111.

Mitra, S., Rachlis, B., Scheim, A., Bardwell, G., Rourke, S.B., & Kerr, T.

(2017). “Acceptability and design preferences of supervised injection

services among people who inject drugs in a mid-sized Canadian City.”

Harm Reduction Journal, 14 (1), 46.

Strike, C., Watson, T.M., Kolla, G.,

Penn, R., & Bayoumi, A.M. (2015).

“Ambivalence about supervised injection facilities among community

stakeholders.” Harm Reduction Journal, 12,

26.

11 Mar 25-

29

Cannibus “Reform” The Legalization of

Marijuana.

Christina N. Grant, Richard E. Bélanger, “Position Statement:

Cannabis and Canada’s children and youth” Paediatrics & Child Health,

2017, 98–102.

Available at: Oxford Journals

Joe Castaldo, “Marijuana addiction is

real, and teenage users are most at risk”, Maclean’s, 15 January 2018.

Available at: www.macleans.ca/society/health/mar

ijuana-addiction-and-the-teenage-brain/

Government of Canada, Department

of Justice, “Cannabis Legalization and Regulation”.

Read the Above Document and Also

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Week Date Topic Readings Due

Click on the Link to Read the

“Cannabis Act”.

Available at: www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-

jp/cannabis/

12 April

1-5

TBD No Readings.

April 5

Last day of classes

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Late Work

Assignments are to be handed in, on the due date, either during the class

time or by 5:20 p.m. to the Professor’s essay drop box (located in the

history department in Hagey Hall, across from HH110 approximately).

Electronic submissions, through email attachment, will not be accepted.

Please keep a copy of all assignments. Students can send a copy of their

assignment by email in order to date/time stamp it, but a paper copy is still

required for grading.

Due dates for assignments are included in the course outline. Late papers

will be penalized by 5% per day (including weekends), for the first four days

following the due date. After the four days the late penalty is 2% per day

(including weekends). Late assignments must be submitted by the day on

which the assignment is returned to the class (approximately two weeks

following submission date). After this date, incomplete assignments will

receive a grade of 0%.

Extensions (without late penalty) will normally be granted only to students

faced with extenuating circumstances (ie. illness) and may require

documentation. Requests for extensions must be made to the Professor

before the due date.

Electronic Device Policy

Electronic devices are allowed in class, provided they do not disturb teaching

or learning. Students are welcome to utilize electronic devices in class that

are used for the purpose of learning and participation in the course.

However, students are asked not to engage in activities that are not course

related when using electronic devices in class.

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Final Examination Policy

For Winter 2019, the established examination period is April 10-27, 2019. The schedule will be available at the end of January. Students

should be aware that student travel plans are not acceptable grounds for granting an alternative final examination time (see:

https://uwaterloo.ca/registrar/final-examinations

Accommodation for Illness or Unforeseen Circumstances:

The instructor follows the practices of the University of Waterloo in accommodating students who have documented reasons for missing

quizzes or exams. See

http://www.registrar.uwaterloo.ca/students/accom_illness.html

Academic Integrity:

In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty,

trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See the UWaterloo Academic Integritity webpage (https://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity/) and the

Arts Academic Integrity webpage (https://uwaterloo.ca/arts/current-undergraduates/student-support/ethical-behaviour) for more

information.

Discipline: Every student is expected to know what constitutes

academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offences, and to take responsibility for their own actions. A student who is unsure whether an

action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group

work/collaboration, should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or Academic Dean. When misconduct has been found

to have occurred, disciplinary penalties are imposed under the University of Waterloo Policy 71 – Student Discipline. For information on

categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline. For typical penalties check Guidelines for

the Assessment of Penalties (https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/policies-procedures-guidelines/guidelines/guidelines-

assessment-penalties).

Students should also be aware that copyright laws in Canada prohibit reproducing more than 10% of any work without permission from its author, publisher, or other copyright holder. Waterloo’s policy on Fair Dealing is available here: https://uwaterloo.ca/copyright-guidelines/fair-dealing-advisory Violation of Canada’s Copyright Act is a punishable academic

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offence under Policy 71 – Student Discipline. Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have

grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4 (https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-

counsel/policies-procedures-guidelines/policy-70). When in doubt,

please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant, who will provide further assistance.

Appeals: A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student

Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be appealed if there are grounds. Students who believe

they have grounds for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals (https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/policies-

procedures-guidelines/policy-72).

Academic Integrity Office (uWaterloo):

http://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity/

Accommodation for Students with Disabilities:

Note for Students with Disabilities: The AccessAbility Services office, located on the first floor of the Needles Hall extension (NH 1401),

collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities, without compromising

the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register

with the AAS office at the beginning of each academic term.

Intellectual Property. Students should be aware that this course contains

the intellectual property of the instructor, which can include:

lecture handouts and presentations (e.g., PowerPoint slides)

lecture content, both spoken and written (and any audio or video

recording thereof)

questions from various types of assessments (e.g., assignments,

quizzes, tests, final exams)

work protected by copyright (i.e., any work authored by the

instructor)

Making available the intellectual property of instructors without their express

written consent (e.g., uploading lecture notes or assignments to an online

repository) is considered theft of intellectual property and subject to

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disciplinary sanctions as described in Policy 71 – Student Discipline.

Students who become aware of the availability of what may be their

instructor’s intellectual property in online repositories are encouraged to

alert the instructor.

Mental Health Support

All of us need a support system. The faculty and staff in Arts encourage

students to seek out mental health supports if they are needed.

On Campus

Counselling Services: counselling.services@uwaterloo.ca / 519-888-

4567 xt 32655

MATES: one-to-one peer support program offered by Federation of Students (FEDS) and Counselling Services

Health Services Emergency service: located across the creek form

Student Life Centre

Off campus, 24/7

Good2Talk: Free confidential help line for post-secondary students. Phone: 1-866-925-5454

Grand River Hospital: Emergency care for mental health crisis. Phone: 519-749-433 ext. 6880

Here 24/7: Mental Health and Crisis Service Team. Phone: 1-844-437-3247

OK2BME: set of support services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning teens in Waterloo. Phone: 519-884-0000

extension 213

Full details can be found online at the Faculty of ARTS website

Download UWaterloo and regional mental health resources (PDF)

Download the WatSafe app to your phone to quickly access mental health

support information

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A respectful living and learning environment for all

1. It is expected that everyone living, learning or working on the premises of Renison University College will contribute to an

environment of tolerance and respect by treating others with

sensitivity and civility.

2. Harassment is unwanted attention in the form of jokes, insults, gestures, gossip, or other behaviours that are meant to intimidate.

Some instances of harassment are against the law in addition to

Renison University College policy.

3. Discrimination is treating people differently because of their race,

disability, sex, sexual orientation, ancestry, colour, age, creed, marital status, or other personal characteristics. The Ontario Human Rights

Code considers actions and behaviours rather than intentions.