Martin is a professor of Physiology in the Medical Sciences Program. He has taught in IFS since 2000, and has been on the IU faculty since 1979. His current interests are in teaching, and he teaches Medical Physiology for medical students on the Bloomington campus, undergraduate physiology at the 200 level, a portion of a 100 level course called "Disease and the Human Body," and this psychoactive drugs course at the 200 level.
Courses
The Science of Psychoactive Drugs
Alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, marijuana, Lexapro®, tranquilizers, LSD, methamphetamine, antipsychotics: all of these are psychoactive drugs. Yet some are illegal, some legal, some toxic, some medicinal. What do they really do, and how do we decide which are safe and which are dangerous?
In this seminar students will learn about the biological actions of the important psychoactive drugs currently in use around the world. The class will explore both notorious illegal drugs, from magic mushrooms to marijuana to methamphetamine, and prescription medicines like lithium, Lexapro®, and Adderall®. The complex relationship between drug use and mental illness will be carefully explored. Discussions, brief lectures, readings, analysis of Web-based and scientific papers, and students own writings will help them understand the scientific bases upon which societies in part determine to approve or disapprove of each of these agents.
With the primary emphasis on the biological actions of these drugs on the brain itself, the class will learn some methods for evaluating scientific knowledge, about animal models of disease and drug use, and the criteria for performing and interpreting drug studies on human subjects.
Inside and outside class, teaching and learning will involve the "problem-posing" method mixed with short periods of lecture. This active learning technique uses group discussion of problems to facilitate learning about important issues for each drug. Problems will help us understand how drugs act: how they get into the body and into the brain, what the actions of the drug are inside and outside the brain, and why a drug can cause dependence, withdrawal symptoms, or addiction. We will use other active learning methods to augment this style, including regularly viewing and reviewing movies that examine drug use (such as Trainspotting, 28 Days, and Blow), a class poster session, skits, short oral presentations, a book review and PowerPoint presentation, and the setting of scientific principles to musical lyrics. To enhance discussions, the class will be visited by a person with alcoholism who maintains abstinence by attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and by a person with schizophrenia who maintains symptom control with clozapine.
Students will leave this course with an increased awareness of psychoactive drugs in all their aspects, and with a sharpened ability to filter, analyze, and understand the information and misinformation that surrounds these agents.
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