There was so much information in the first two chapters! I felt like I learned a lot. However, I have taken many health classes that have discussed this information so it was a bit of a review. Even though I may have known some of this information already, I still find it very interesting and it doesn't stop me from wanting to learn more.
One thing I found interesting in the reading was that it talks about individuals use and sometimes abuse drugs without compromising their health, or any relationship in their life. I never really thought about it like that before. When i think drugs or alcohol, bad things come to mind. Not "maybe they arent hurting themselves." In a way I disagreed with this part of the reading because I feel like anytime you do a potentially harmful drug, it does compromise your health. And eventually in time, it will compromise your relationships. People start having a relationship with drugs. I think that's what this reading so far was all about. The relationship people develop with alcohol and drugs and how they become addicted. Its interesting learning the different reasons why some get addicted.
As for the mini-lecture video, I loved it. The words came kind of fast so I had to keep up! I had no idea over 22,000 people have died because of the Mexican drug war. That's awful. The number of soldiers killed since 2003 is just over 4,500. Your telling me that a drug war is killing more people than actual WAR?!
From doing the discussions and having to answer other classmates questions, it definitely reinforces the information in the text. When someone writes what page they are getting their information from, i go and look it up so i know how to answer their question in the right way. One thing i found interesting from the discussion questions is that men are more likely to abuse drugs than women. When looking up information about it, I found a opinion that says men are more thrill chasers than women. It was easy and interesting to talk about this on the discussion because I totally agreed. By looking up websites to support my answers, I found other opinions and shared them in my responses.
I feel like I did spend a lot of time of this module. However, I feel like i rushed through the quiz. Next module im going to take my time since there is no time limit. I definitely need to take more time when reading the questions before I jump to the first answer I think is right. I really like that Professor Brochu gives you positive comments and tells you how to improve your discussion answers. One comment I was told to include text information, once I did on my second response, I got the full 5 points.
I chose my three words I didnt know prior wisely. The first one i chose was dependency. I had no idea it was a synonym for addiction. Dependency develops when people start having to do drugs. They become "dependent" on them. The second word i didnt know was what EAP stood for. It means Employee Assistance Programs. These programs help employees deal with personal problems that could reflect on a poor work ethic. I didnt even know those existed!! The last word I didnt know was floats. Its a word to describe a drug user. These users vacillate between the need for easier seeking and the desire to relive moderate to serious psychological problems. I would still like to learn more about this word. Not sure if i fully understand what it means.
So far this class has been very interesting. Im really looking forward to the future chapters, and hopefully some more videos like the one on the drug war!
