Feels underwritten by the DEA, and aimed at perhaps high school students? Very slow pace; info could've been distilled into less than half the lectures (I completed the '7 weeks' in 3 days). Doesn't really distinguish between users without serious problems & addicts (which I believe amplifies gateway effects & experimentation once people meet users who aren't brain damaged or addicts). Creates an exaggerated and arbitrary distinction between prescribed drugs as all good and recreational as all bad, and dismisses any possible benefits of substances that are not legal, noting only that medical marijuana has been helpful for HIV patients, which is certainly an understatement. Components are also helpful for cancer patients, anxiety, and more. Perhaps break this into studies of common drugs, how they work, & effects and separately, the mechanisms of addiction and treatment. However, I appreciated the 'reduce harm' policy economics.

Too slow, not enough visual material, not well structured. Shallow, whole program could be packed down to just 3 lectures.

I wondered why Prof Kuhar offered that course as he did not seem interested or motivated.There are lots of videos that last only 4 or 5 minutes and still they contain numerous repetitions of the same fact and summaries of past videos and the current one. Some basic things were explained in great detail while more complex ones were just named, so I had to look them up on the internet. In his videos Kuhar refers again and again to other sources that participants should use to learn more. The reading recommendations at the end of every week invariably list Kuhar’s book, which is also called The Addicted Brain and that you have to buy as you cannot access it here. I wondered if selling that book was the main motivation to offer that course. It did not come as a surprise that this course if one of those where you can only access the quizzes every week to control your progress if you have paid for the course.

What really disturbed me was that he is still claiming that opioid medication does not create addiction if it is prescribed by a doctor and taken as prescribed. There is a raging opioid crisis in USA mainly because the Sackler family pretended that their Oxycontin would not cause addiction. Doctors believed that with the result of hundreds of thousands of addicted patients, many of whom died from unvoluntary overdoses. How can a professor of pharmacology ignore that dangerous and deadly lie that made the Sackler’s billions of dollars. Criminal charges are pending as we speak? Whose interests does he represent? All in all it seems to me that you learn more facts and get more reliable information about the addicted brain if you simply research on the internet on your own.

This course taught me the intricacies of our brains and drug use. As an addict it was very informative and it helped in my decision to quit abusing drugs and to be clean and sober. As of the date of this review, I have been sober for 2 years. Thank you for offering this course and for granting me financial aid to pay for the course. Coursera has helped to turn my life around in a positive way.

very boring and didn't learn anything i didn't already know. this was more like watching an anti drug propaganda film that I couldn't finish it.

A lot of prejustice in the way teacher is explaining. I think this course is aiming for addicted students.

Great course on the effects on drugs for the brain. Great for me and will have my children go for it as soon as they are old enough. The professor's commitment to harm reduction is touching

This course is truly wonderful, many intellectual mind-opening surprises... for example I almost fell out of my chair when I learned of vaccinations development effort to counter addiction.

Really disappointing course. Content is shallow, despite the impressive credentials of the Professor. Quizzes are ridiculously easy.

you cannot do the quizes unless you pay

A really good course! It is wide in scope with good depth of the data presented yet is done in a simple and non-complicated way .Relevant literature and refernces were also intorduced which I appreciated .I do recommend it to all my collegues at the clinic where I work !

Lectures are very easy to follow and covers a lot of information. The extra reading suggested is very useful and helps to understant drugs and their consequiences. I think this course is interesting enough to get deeper into every topic mentioned.

Helped me understand why my left my family for a life of meth addiction. I am thankful that it has reduced my stress and anger ove3 what she has done. even a small amount of understanding

have seen a few first lectures re definitions of additions, drugs etc. Not particularly impressive - it didn't seem to be based on the current scientific evidence in the domain to me, so not too encouraging to continue. de-enrolling.

Addiction is a major problem in the U.S. I wanted to gather as much information as possible to understand both the problem and some the major solutions to successfully attack the problem. This course is one I highly recommend to anyone who is concerned and who may wish to work to help reduce drug addiction. Dr Kuhar has offered a great learning experience.

This a Complete Course, as I was expecting it to be in my best hopes and much more. It covers all sides and shadows of drugs and addiction and analyse the phenomenon a very deep but comprehensible way, even in the most scientific lessons.

One of the best course. Before I took up this course I have negative feelings towards the drugs addicts. But this course completely change my behavior and opinions towards them. Thank you so much.

I learned a lot from this course that I have been able to use in a ministry capacity. If you are trying to help others with addiction or understand it for yourself, this is the course for you.

Excellent and interesting course on a very important topic. Very professional production and high quality lectures. It was quite easy, apart from the brain chemistry sections.

Through media, we have an idea that drugs can be addicting. This course is very helpful in understanding how a drug can be addicting. First, the course clearly distinct between addiction and dependence. From there, it classifies various classes (10 to be specific) of addicting drugs, which includes caffeine! As a biologist, what caught my attention were the animations that beautifully explained the neurotransmission process and how it is altered by drugs in the discussion. Michael Kuhar is an excellent instructor. I am confident that I could understand 99 % of the very relevant information provided in this course. I definitely recommend the course to those who are interested in the topic. In addition, the course if mandated in schools or colleges will definitely provide the required awareness in the area of drug abuse and drug addiction.