Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Prior to beginning work on this discussion, read Chapter 9 in your textbook, the required articles, Why the Opioid Epidemic May Have Fueled America’s Murder Spike (Links to an external site.) and Opioid Epidemic So Dangerous, Says CDC, It’s Finally Killing More People Than Guns (Links to an external site.), and watch the video: Warning: This Drug May Kill You (Links to an external site.). The opioid crisis has become a controversial issue but one that is becoming harder and harder to ignore. In the context of the relationship between psychology and criminal behavior, substance abuse is one of the leading risk factors for criminal behavior. Therefore, the opioid crisis is an issue that criminal psychologists, public health professionals, and our community-at-large are examining the implications, the most crucial of which appears to be a relationship between homicide/violent crime rates and opioid abuse. In your discussion,

Conduct additional research on the opioid crisis using the Ashford Library to ensure you are aware of the latest issues in the opioid crisis national debate. Then, briefly debate the issue with your classmates. Your instructor will assign you to one of the two prompts. Please debate the issue from the perspective that:

• Prompt 1: Physicians have caused the opioid crisis by over-prescribing pain medications that are highly addictive, and
• Prompt 2: From the perspective that the person taking the opiates is responsible for the person’s own behavior and doctors should be able to prescribe whatever they want in any quantity they deem medically necessary. Remember to provide your insight into whether rising violent crime rates stems from the opioid crisis as asserted in your assigned readings.

Guided Response: Review several of your peers’ initial posts and, in a minimum of 100 words each, by Day 7, respond to at least two of your classmates posts who espoused the opposing viewpoint. Be sure to provide constructive feedback; ask follow-up questions to your peers regarding their assessment of the opioid crisis, its relationship to violent crime, and what should be done about it. Are your classmates’ responses supported by scholarly, credible evidence or mere speculation? Gently remind those who speculate that in academic work, opinions must be supported by credible and/or scholarly evidence. Respond in a substantive manner with specific examples to extend their thinking. Support your claims with examples from the required materials and/or other scholarly or credible sources, and properly cite any references. You are encouraged to post your required replies earlier in the week to promote more meaningful and interactive discourse in this discussion forum. Continue to monitor the discussion forum until 5:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Day 7, and respond with robust dialogue to anyone who replies to your initial post.

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