Year
2024Credit points
10Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unitPrerequisites
LAWS104 Foundations of Law and Legal Research
Teaching organisation
4 hours per week for twelve weeks or equivalent.Unit rationale, description and aim
In this unit, students will discover the legal, moral, societal and health responses to drugs that are prohibited and/or regulated in various ways. The unit will identify particular drugs and then consider broader issues about the justifications for those approaches and alternative approaches.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
| Learning Outcome Number | Learning Outcome Description | Relevant Graduate Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| LO1 | Describe the legal and moral principles that underpin drug regulation. | GC1, GC3, GC4, GC7, GC9, GC11 |
| LO2 | Taking into account the normative and moral principles of prohibition and decriminalization, evaluate the effectiveness of drug regulation having regard to diverse contemporary case studies. | GC1, GC3, GC4, GC7, GC9, GC11 |
| LO3 | Demonstrate understanding of the societal, criminal justice, health and economic impacts of drug regulation | GC1, GC3, GC4, GC7, GC9, GC11 |
Content
Topics will include:
1. An Introduction to Drugs and their Regulation
2. Fundamental Principles: Prohibition, Deterrence, Decriminalisation
3. Key Principles and Governance Frameworks
4. Alcohol in Australia
5. Tobacco (Nicotine) in Australia
6. Medicinal Cannabis
7. Illegal Cannabis
8. Heroin, Morphine, Fentanyl and Nitrazines
9. MDMA, Ecstasy and Molly
10. LSD, Psychedelics and Mushrooms
11. Cocaine and Amphetamines
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Mode: Lectures, tutorials, electronic consultation, library tasks and presentations or Online lectures and activities.
Duration: Intensively, 7.5 hours a day over five days, or the equivalent. Students are expected to spend 150 hours in total for this unit.
This level two elective unit allows students to demonstrate knowledge, skills and understanding in a specialist area of regulation using intermediate-level research skills.
Our strategy is to encourage students to creatively engage with unit content and to practice their intermediate-level research skills.
The unit is designed to be delivered intensively, weekly or online. We have taken a blended learning approach to provide accessibility and flexibility to our students and a student focused approach that increases depth of learning and engagement through actively utilising Canvas
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment strategy is designed to assess knowledge, skills and understanding in a specialist area of law, and to develop research capacity.
The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each of the learning outcomes listed.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes | Graduate Capabilities |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment 1: Briefing note (individual) – students will work individually to prepare a briefing note on the regulation of a drug suitable for consumption and use by a Minister | 30% | LO1, LO2, LO3 | GC1, GC3, GC7, GC9, GC11 |
Assessment 2: Briefing note (group) – students will work in groups to prepare a briefing note on the regulation of a drug suitable for use by a political party | 30% | LO1, LO2, LO3 | GC1, GC4, GC7, GC9 |
Assessment 3: Take home assessment incorporating essay questions. | 40% | LO1, LO2, LO3 | GC1, GC3, GC7, GC9, GC11 |
Representative texts and references
REPRESENTATIVE TEXTS AND REFERENCES
A set of readings will be developed and made available electronically from week to week.