Welcome to the segment on drugs and society. Medicines have a huge impact on our society. They save millions of lives each year and they enhance our quality of life. The search for better medicines continues all the time. Unfortunately, some of these medicines morphine, for example, and a number of other chemical compounds are addicting. When addiction happens, they become a source of misery and illness. As has been stated, a general description of addiction is the seeking and taking drugs in spite of a negative impact on our life. The 10 classes of abused drugs have been discussed in earlier lectures in this course. Drugs affect all age groups, races, genders, professions, and locations. While drug abuse and addiction is a personal disease, it is also a societal problem. No man is an island, and a drug-abusing individual inevitably impacts other people. There is a web of drugs suppliers, drug users, those in relationship to users, treatment experts, law enforcers, and more. While one can take a drug when alone, users function in a societal framework, hence our focus on drugs and society in these lectures. Aside from Food and Drug Administration or FDA, approved drugs for disease, recreational and societal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco are tolerated or accepted by society. Alcohol is mainly a recreational drug that has been accepted or nearly demanded by society through the repeal of Prohibition by the 21st Amendment, such as a democracy and the rule of law. But legalization creates problems requiring restrictions on the sale and use of these substances. The next several lectures will focus on recent societal problems. The two topics are one, the opioid epidemic and two, medical and recreational marijuana. These illustrate that members of society are vulnerable to drugs. That society can fail in the control of drugs, and that drug legalization and availability can have mixed effects. These two topics reflect different aspects of the problems in our society. Opioids are medically necessary, but their distribution and availability can be out of control. Marijuana plants, while not FDA approved, are trending towards legalization, but it may be more dangerous than it's commonly recognized. These topics will be addressed in the next several lectures.