LAW 601 - Health, Crime, and the Opioid Crisis

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The United States is in the grips of an opioid drug crisis that stands squarely at the intersection of health law and criminal law. This course will explore the legal landscape surrounding the development and marketing of prescription opioids by pharmaceutical companies. We will also discuss the health care regulations and standards that govern the medical profession, particularly as they relate to the physician-patient relationship, State licensure of physicians, and the changing norms and cultural views of pain and pain management. The course then turns to the criminal law aspects, including the criminal liability of prescribers, users, and manufacturers of legal prescription drugs. The course also explores efforts to stamp out the illegal drug market for heroin. We will also analyze efforts to rehabilitate individual offenders and to deter corporate and governmental practices that led to the crisis in the first place. In addition to reviewing regulations and statutes, students will hear from medical experts, a chemist, drug court employees, and policymakers. This class will be graded pass/fail. Grades will be determined based on three short papers and classroom participation.