Substance Use and Society

Assessment
SSC312 Assessment 001
– A 2500 word (guideline) essay testing learning outcomes 1, 2, 3 & 4. Assessment one to be
handed in via Turnitin on CANVAS and JIRA.
This essay should meet the following learning outcomes:
Knowledge
1. Understanding of the physical, psychological, pharmacological, legal and social contexts and
consequences of substance use.
2. Knowledge of preventative and intervention strategies in place with regard to substance
misuse
3. An evaluation of current theories of problematic substance use.
2 | P a g e
Skills
4. Demonstrate independent writing skills using academic resources, research and references.
Write a 2500-word (guideline) essay on one of the following questions:
1. Critically analyse the reasons why people take drugs.
In this essay you will need to explore reasons why people take drugs, examine
prevalence rates, and evaluate theories of addiction. You could also include
attitudes to drug taking, within different arenas such as public, government and
media.
2. Critically analyse the relationship between either:
a) drugs and crime or b) drugs in prison
In either of these questions there should be links made between drugs and crime.
The theoretical understanding of these links need to be established and also some
attempt at establishing how intervention may (or may not) work in this regard.
3. Choose a type of drug (legal or illicit) and critically explore and analyse the
interventions which may be applied when its use becomes problematic.
For this essay you initially need to explore the meaning of problematic drug use in
defining your terms. You also need to examine the associated issues linked to this
‘problematic’ use and how this may impact upon the individual, family, community
and/or society. What routes of intervention may be taken and assess the relative
effectiveness of this, suggesting alternative interventions (if possible) from other
countries or from reading you may have done.
3 | P a g e
Relevant Assessment Criteria is given within the module guide and can be
accessed through the following link:
https://docushare.sunderland.ac.uk/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document7861/
Assessment Regulations For further information regarding Assessment Regulations,
extenuating circumstances or extensions and academic integrity, please refer to your Programme
Handbook on the University of Sunderland in London information page on Canvas.
Reading List
Please access your reading list from the library website. To access it, please go to
https://moduleresources.sunderland.ac.uk/ and search for your module.
Submission guidelines
There are currently two steps that you need to follow to ensure that you successfully submit your
work for marking. Your submission links will become available approximately 3 weeks prior to your
submission deadline, along with detailed instructions on how to submit your assignment, but in the
meantime please feel free to also watch this Assignment Submission Instructions video.

SSC312 Assessment 002
Create a 20 slide (guided word length 1500 words) PowerPoint to be submitted on during the
assessment week in August; satisfying the following: Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3 & 4.
Knowledge
1. Understanding of the physical, psychological, pharmacological, legal and social contexts and
consequences of substance use.
2. Knowledge of preventative and intervention strategies in place with regard to substance
misuse
3. An evaluation of current theories of problematic substance use.
2 | P a g e
Skills
4. Demonstrate independent writing skills using academic resources, research and references.
Choose one of the following questions to answer:
Please note: the question you choose has to be different from the one you
focused your assignment 001 essay on – we will check this!
1. There is inherently a strong relationship between drugs and crime. Critically analyse
this statement to explore the complexities of the drugscrime nexus.
2. Drugs have been used for Centuries. What is new is that we’ve defined and redefined it
as social, cultural, political and economic conditions have prevailed and changed.
Explore this statement with reference to drug trends and meanings within a
sociocultural context.
3. Choose a drug or type of drug. Explore the nature of dependency and the options of
intervention, critically engaging with the debates around their efficacy.
Please note, your PowerPoint should contain valid academic references, if you
wish to embed brief video clips, diagrams and illustrations (make sure you
acknowledge the source) in the presentation you can do. The PowerPoint
should not exceed 20 slides and should be equivalent to a 20 minute
presentation