I absolutely regret taking this class. Easily the most unfair course I have ever taken and the worst I have ever been treated by a professor. I had an A throughout the entire semester because I actually attended class and read the books due to my interest in the material (unlike most people who take this as an elective). Then, at the end of the semester, Dr. Pleszkoch gave me a D for no apparent reason on our final paper, which I put a lot of effort in to. This dropped my grade an entire letter. When I exchanged emails and then finally phone calls with her, she was absolutely horrible to communicate with. I was very stressed about some other classes and crying during our phone call because I couldn't believe my one elective was going like this, and she literally laughed at me. It is hard to believe a woman this condescending and unsympathetic works with drug addicts. Do not take this class.

The course has changed and has gotten harder over the past few semesters. The final is no longer take home and there are more assignments. That being said, it's not a super challenging class. It really isn't as easy of an A as is described by other reviews though.

I took this class with the expectation of learning more about issues of drug abuse in our culture as college students and living witnesses to significant changes in drug policy. Professor Pleszkoch presented as very condescending and discourteous to her students. In a school environment where we place the honor code at the forefront of our education, she began the semester with the assumption that cheating would take place and taught the class accordingly making assessments unreasonably confusing and difficult and creating questions to trick students. Additionally she would publicly shame students in class calling them out and pausing class to reprimand them. This class was 2.5 hours long for no reason, by sharing unnecessary anecdotes and giving the class loosely timed random breaks, this class was dragged on way past a reasonable time for 30 slides to be reviewed. Finally, Professor Pleszkoch was unbelievably unapproachable and incredibly rude in her email responses, shutting me down and not inviting conversation or debate. I completely regret taking this class and would strongly advise anyone taking it unless it is absolutely mandatory. This professor is incredibly unpleasant and did not support me as a student or respect me as an individual. She was an incredibly negative aspect of an otherwise great semester.

This is no more an easy A folks. I took it in fall 2016 and I am telling you: It is a waste of tuition and you will probably end up with a grade lower than A so it's just not worth it. For the first time this semester, she integrated 3 really REQUIRED very thick books and you actually have to read them to do well, as well as memorise all the powerpoints and have watched all the in-class videos. This semester the class average is at B-B+ range. She talks as if the school told her to make the class harder and so she did. Either take this and be ready to put effort into it, or don't take it because you will end up getting a B from an "Easy A" class. Don't listen to what anyone else says because the content and the structure of this class has changed!

She kind of rambled on a lot, but overall a easy and semi interesting course. 1 midterm, 1 final, 5 quizzes (open note online), 1 paper

This class is super easy overall, but the exams are annoyingly specific. They're take-home and online. She's not a great lecturer, but the class such an easy A that it doesn't really matter.

do yourself a favor and literally take any other class. there is no longer a test bank and having to sit through 2.5 hours of this every week is just a waste of your time and tuition dollars.

Class is pretty easy but your grade highly depends on your TA. Unfortunately mine was really bad. Her grading was really strict and never gave useful feedback. The professor is one of the worst I have had. Her lectures were dry and boring without any value and if you ask for a regrade on your paper, most likely she will give you a lower score. I was hoping to learn a lot from this class but I did not. We did not receive any test banks to prepare for the midterm and final. We had to study from the study guide and there was a lot to memorize. In the final, questions were pretty detailed and some of them were not from the slides. Finally, if you get a 94.8, your grade won't roll up to an A. So, if you are taking this class as a GPA booster, I would definitely recommend to look for another class.

Some things were changed for this semester. We did not receive any test banks to prepare for the midterm and final. We had to study from the study guide and there was a lot of memorization involved (she asked pretty detailed questions on the final). The writing assignments are easy (Qing Gao was my TA and she is aweosme). If I were you, I would look for another class for a GPA booster; I feel like I didnt't learn as much as I had wanted to. Also, I would say this class is an easy A- (A starts at 95 so not all students end up getting an A).

This professor is the most entertaining person ever. Its like listening to your old grandma nag after suffering from nostalgia. All you need is pretend your listening to her. She's too old to know who's actually listening or not. The tests are easy (I got a C though because I was drunk while taking it). Taylor is the best TA ever. The hottest TA you will find in UVA.