Pharmacology Update
Staying Current with Drugs of Abuse, Volume 9

This 3 hour course provides updated information about new research and treatment findings which relate to specific drugs of abuse as well as emerging trends and new insights into drugs of abuse.  An excellent continuing education course that will help you stay current with the drug knowledge that is so critical when working with substance-abusing clients.    

Please note - this course is updated on an annual basis to insure the newest information in the field is being presented.  The current version of this course was posted on August 22, 2007.

Goals/Objectives

This course provides you with updated information about new research findings that relate to the various drugs of abuse as well as new trends and new drugs being abused. The course is updated annually to insure that the most current research information and findings are made available to the field.

By participating in this Distance Learning Course the trainee will:

  1. Identify current drug use trends across the United States. 
  2. Examine use patterns of adolescents and adults through the use of various national survey data.
  3. Discuss current problem drugs that have shown increasing use patterns and are showing up in treatment settings.
  4. Investigate new research findings that are expanding our knowledge and understanding of drugs of abuse. 
  5. Review new insights that provide guidance and direction in treatment approaches. 
  6. Review current events from periodicals, newspapers, and websites that illustrate new issues and needs that are of importance to the field.

Your Course Instructor:
Kevin R. Scheel

MS, MAC, LADC
Co-Founder, DLCAS

Kevin R. Scheel is a Masters prepared chemical dependency counselor with more than twenty-three years of experience in the human service field. He has served as the director of programs in the public sector as well as in private care facilities, both in the profit and not-for-profit arenas. He has been involved in the delivery of education services to the field since 1986 as an instructor at McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas, and as a private training consultant with Hazelden. Mr. Scheel is the author of "Alcohol: Chemistry & Culture," as well as a series of education videotapes on the various drugs of abuse, published and marketed by WRS Group, Inc. He has also created a preparation and review manual that is currently in use by a variety of colleges and universities in Texas, designed to aid students preparing for their Texas chemical dependency credential.

While in Texas Kevin served as the Texas Coordinator for the federally funded Project for Addiction Counselor Training (PACT) program. For this project Mr. Scheel designed a 270 hour curriculum for beginning counselors, delivering over 45,000 hours of classroom training to 415 minority students. As a result of his efforts, 268 of these students have gone on to obtain their credentials to practice chemical dependency counseling in Texas.

Kevin also served in the position as Coordinator for the Texas Addiction Training Center (currently the Texas Addition Technology Transfer Center), a federally funded project from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment in Washington, D.C. The goal of this project has been to increase the level of addiction education to the various disciplines offering counseling services to drug and alcohol affected clients. In Texas this project worked with 8 major colleges and universities.

Kevin is one of the co-founders of the DLCAS.  He continues to be active as a writer/author of materials for this training service.