The Drug Enforcement and Policy Center (DEPC) aims to conduct, support, and share academic and practical research, with special attention to issues surrounding the reform of laws prohibiting or regulating the use and distribution of traditionally illicit drugs.
Reports on Teaching Drugs
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“Teaching Drugs: Incorporating Drug Policy into Law School Curriculum” |
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“Teaching Drugs: 2020-21 Curriculum Survey Update” |
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“Teaching Drugs: 2021-22 Cannabis Curriculum Survey Update” |
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“Teaching Drugs: 2022-23 Cannabis Curriculum Survey Update” |
Despite the significant impact of laws and policies surrounding controlled substances, few classes in the typical law school curriculum focus on either basic legal doctrines or broader scholarship in this field. This gap in law school curricula is especially problematic given the shifts in the landscapes of legalized cannabis and hemp, as well as the range of legal and policy responses to the recent opioid crisis. To continue our efforts to better understand how law schools currently approach these issues and to identify how drug policy and law could be better incorporated into law school curricula, we conducted a fourth and fifth survey of all accredited law schools in the U.S. The 2021-22 and 2022-23 surveys followed previous annual surveys and a workshop of legal scholars who work in this space. The surveys and 2019 workshop were designed to identify law school courses currently taught and the primary obstacles to teaching this subject matter. The results show that the vast majority of law schools do not teach courses touching on drugs or the evolving legal structures around cannabis, and this is true even for law schools located in states with legalized cannabis markets.
The Moritz College of Law is an exception. Read more on the About Us page.
Other center-published reports
Explore the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center’s reports and studies, data and policy analyses, as well as our focus area pages.
Student paper series
The Drug Enforcement and Policy Center solicits research papers from students in all areas of drug law and policy. Given the new and relatively unexamined area of academic writing on the subject of cannabis law, these student research papers often offer first takes on important issues of growing interest.
Accepted student papers are then uploaded and made available for download on SSRN.