HLTH12030 - Drugs in Society

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Psychoactive drug use in our society challenges all of us. This unit analyses individual and societal attitudes to psychoactive drug use by exploring the history of its use, drug policy, public health responses and current media issues. It examines why people use psychoactive drugs and the harms associated with drug use in some people in some circumstances and what can be done to minimise that harm.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2025

Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 30%
2. Online Quiz(zes) 30%
3. Written Assessment 40%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 66.67% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 20.69% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Lecturer
Feedback
Assessment 1 requires a high level of reflection on attitudes and values regarding drug use which may be triggering for some people. It is worth adding a list of helplines/support organisations for those students who may need support.
Recommendation
Add a list of national helplines and sources of further support to the Moodle site. Add a brief explanation of why this has been included.
Action Taken
A list of national helplines and sources of further support has now been added to the Moodle site. This was included to ensure that students have easy access to appropriate services if they require personal or professional support during their studies.
Source: Student
Feedback
Student feedback indicated that assessment feedback was provided more slowly than expected and did not allow adequate time for reflection before the next assessment task.
Recommendation
Provide assessment feedback within a shorter turnaround period to ensure students have sufficient time to reflect and incorporate feedback into subsequent assessments. Ensure all casual staff are familiar with CQUniversity feedback time frames (2 weeks).
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Analyse individual and societal attitudes to psychoactive drug use, exploring historical, political, public health and media responses
  2. Examine why people use psychoactive drugs and identify the harms associated with drug use for some people in some circumstances
  3. Evaluate strategies to minimise the harm that may be associated with psychoactive drug use

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Written Assessment • •
2 - Online Quiz(zes) • • •
3 - Written Assessment •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Communication • • •
2 - Problem Solving • •
3 - Critical Thinking • •
4 - Information Literacy •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10