Spring 2027

Appropriate Use of Abused Drugs

Examines the biological and pharmacological basis of substance dependence and prescribes potentially addictive agents, covering opioids, cannabinoids, psychedelics, amphetamines, and related substances.

offering recorded2 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Shyanne Hefley

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2010: 3.84 GPA, 96.3% A/AB (n=54 letter grades); Spring 2011: 3.66 GPA, 82.1% A/AB (n=28 letter grades); Spring 2012: 3.87 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=47 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain the biological and pharmacological basis of substance dependence and the mechanisms of commonly abused drugs, including opioids, cannabinoids, psychedelics, amphetamines, and related agents

  • Differentiate between substance use, misuse, abuse, and dependence, and analyze their public health implications

  • Apply best practices for prescribing opioids for acute and chronic pain, including initiation, titration, tapering, and opioid-sparing strategies

  • Develop evidence-based treatment strategies for opioid use disorder and withdrawal management

  • Interpret urine drug tests and Prescription Drug Monitoring Program data to inform clinical decision-making

  • Identify and manage toxicity and overdose from known and unknown substances of abuse

  • Evaluate patterns of misuse in specific populations (e.g., athletes, students) and apply preventive strategies

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Declared in Doctor of Pharmacy program with second year standing or MS Pharmaceutical Sciences: Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation or Capstone Certificate in Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation

    • Declared in Doctor of Pharmacy program with second year standing
      • MS Pharmaceutical Sciences: Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation
      • Capstone Certificate in Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation
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PHMSCI 640

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • Declared in Doctor of Pharmacy program with second year standing
    • Any of
      • MS Pharmaceutical Sciences: Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation
      • Capstone Certificate in Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation

Professors

Spring 2027
Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Online Only0 / 500
LEC 002Online Only0 / 1000

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2010: 3.84 GPA, 96.3% A/AB (n=54 letter grades); Spring 2011: 3.66 GPA, 82.1% A/AB (n=28 letter grades); Spring 2012: 3.87 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=47 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Opioids for pain management, cannabinoids, psychedelics, amphetamines, and related substances
  • Therapeutic tapering, withdrawal management, overdose treatment, urine drug test interpretation, and prescription drug monitoring programs
  • Differentiating substance use, misuse, abuse, and dependence with public health implications
  • Evaluating misuse patterns in specific populations such as athletes and students and applying preventive strategies

Skills

  • Prescribing opioids for acute and chronic pain with initiation, titration, tapering, and opioid-sparing strategies
  • Developing evidence-based treatment strategies for opioid use disorder and withdrawal management
  • Interpreting urine drug tests and Prescription Drug Monitoring Program data for clinical decisions
  • Identifying and managing toxicity and overdose from known and unknown substances of abuse

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2012— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2012

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2012 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

816 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
PHMSCI 640 · Spring 2027

Appropriate Use of Abused Drugs

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:718:014418",
    "course_id": "PHMSCI 640",
    "course_uid": "course_6f31cad7c7eda11ec2443b72",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "014418",
    "source_subject_id": "718",
    "title": "Appropriate Use of Abused Drugs",
    "credits_min": 2,
    "credits_max": 2,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews

No records available.

Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "48702b8982f4a716b11930e6a3129e5a2db2522dd209c5fb9365df8ea096d121",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}