Virtual masters in drug addiction studies.

In October 2002, a diverse group of 127 government officials, economists, lawyers, nurses, policemen, psychiatrists, social workers, and teachers embarked on a virtual educational voyage that would end almost two years later, at a ceremony held April 27, 2004, at CICAD (Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission) headquarters at the OAS. The brain child of Dr. Yolanda Marquez, Latin American coordinator of the M.A. in Drug Addictions Studies now offered by the OAS, this program stemmed from the goal to further educate professionals working in substance-abuse treatment and prevention without interrupting their employment throughout the duration of study. A principal reason for the creation of an online program, rather than an Intensive seminar or workshop, was to reach students residing far from capital cities. Through the cooperation of OAS, CICAD, Spain's National Plan Against Drugs, and a consortium of eight universities, eighty-two students from forty-eight towns in seventeen countries constituted the first class ever to graduate with an online master's degree in addictions studies this past spring.

The April ceremony brought together the soon-to-be graduates and the coordinators of the member universities of the UNIREDDROGAS consortium. In addition to Spain's National University of Distance Education (UNED), which administers the online WebCT platform, seven Spanish and Latin American universities were tatted to create a virtual drug addiction studies network. The UNED, the University Foundation of Luis Amigo (Colombia), Costa Rica's National University of Distance Education (UNED Costa Rica), Deusto University (Spain), Miguel Hernandez University (Spain), Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University, Federico Villareal National University (Peru), and Simon Rodriguez National Experimental University (Venezuela) were chosen because they already offered established degree pro grams in drug addiction studies. "The greatest challenge was sitting at a table and creating a common curriculum with authorities from eight universities, each with their own agendas and internal guidelines," says Maria Eugenia Perez, OAS international coordinator of the online M.A.

The M.A. was designed to assist hi meeting the goal of reducing drug demand throughout the Americas. A 2003 CICAD study of illegal drug consumption in the region found that the average age at which polled students initiated consumption was fourteen, and as low as twelve and a half in some countries. Drug addictions studies represents a complex academic field which has only recently risen to the level of an essential means to respond to growing levels of drug consumption in Latin America and the Caribbean.

According to Anna Chisman, senior advisor and chief of public communications for CICAD, a high demand exists for graduate education in tiffs field. "This program is helping to define what you should know if you are going to be an expert in this field, remarks Chisman."

According to Yehudith Ayala, a recent graduate, the April graduation ceremony was a powerful meeting among classmates of two years who knew each other merely through an online forum. "Although we had never met, we could identify each other just based on previous virtual communication. We finally ceased to be virtual classmates and had the opportunity to become real classmates."

The start-up price tag was $400,000, half funded by CICAD aid the other half by the Spanish government. Eduardo Gutierrez, Spanish ambassador to the OAS, was instrumental in securing the funding and acting as an intermediary between the OAS and Spain's National Plan Against Drugs. Now, two years later, the program sustains itself financially.

Thirty-five professors and seventy tutors from UNIREDDROGAS coordinated to create a multidimensional curriculum. The two-year program of study is divided into four semesters of five courses each and taught through a variety of techniques utilizing educative technology, such as real-time interaction through chat rooms and debates and non-real-time communication via online courses, forums, and e-mail.

While the primary intention of the program is to equip students with the capacity to work in the drug addictions field, a secondary objective is to create a lasting network that will continue beyond the duration of the program. To maintain communication among former students, the first class created an online alumni association, the International Organization of Professionals in Drug Addiction.

Spain's UNED plays an ongoing role by operating as the technical facilitator to program participants. Through an interactive website that contains the online platform, all pertinent course information and links to locate complementary web resources, students, professors, tutors, and coordinators can communicate with each other at any hour. The open character of the website creates at unprecedented "democratization of access to information," as described by UNED's Dr. Pedro Marauri.

Marauri, as online platform training facilitator, was responsible for helping students and professors become accustomed to a virtual environment. While recognizing the initial difficulty and low level of familiarity with an online learning environment, Marauri explains that once students become familiar with the platform, facility soon follows.

Upon acceptance, each student is required to matriculate into a chosen member university of UNIREDDROGAS and to take examinations, one per semester, on campus grounds or at another approved site, including national OAS offices. Applicants must meet both general requirements established by the OAS and specific requirements of the university to which they are applying. At the culmination of the program, each university individually grants degrees to its enrolled students.

In order to accommodate the various geographic locations of the students, the first examination was given in March 2003 at nineteen sites. Such exams are the only portion of the program completed on-site. Exams are taken in real-time, so as to avoid any communication among students before the completion of each test. Although time differences require some to take exams at rather inopportune times, there is a general consensus that the online nature of the program proves more favorable than not to international time differences.

At $2,000 tuition and the opportunity to apply for scholarships from CICAD, AICD (Inter American Agency of Cooperation and Development), and OAS member state governments, the degree is accessible to many who would otherwise be unable to afford professional education. CICAD and AICD together provide thirty half-scholarships, thereby taking responsibility for a major portion of the tuition costs of over hall of the students each year.

Without such scholarships, the program would not be able to reach its desired student audience. People who work in the drug addictions field in Latin America typically earn an income of $300 to $500 per month. While 320 students were accepted as qualified candidates for the first class, only 127 students ultimately enrolled (the remaining 193 couldn't afford the tuition).

The combination of the diversity in each year's class and the varied expertise of the professors makes this program unique. Ayala asserts that the contributions of the other students were key to her own academic success and comprehension of the material. "There is an extremely high level of professionalism on the part of the students," she says.

The primary objective is to educate specialists and researchers of already high academic level to the point where they gain the ability to plan, execute, and evaluate programs and strategies that will lead to drug demand reduction in the Americas. Trained as at economist, Ayala had no former clinical nor medical background. However, as a result of her internship experience with Act II (Achievement through Counseling and Treatment), part of the Philadelphia nonprofit organization JEVS (Jewish Employment and Vocational Services), she was offered a job at the agency, which resulted in altering her chosen career path.

A key component of the learning experience involves a 240-hour internship in drug policy, in which each student is required to propose a project, have the internship site verified by the university consortium as a realistic locale to pursue the stated goals, and then work in an environment relevant to drug treatment and/or prevention. Many students work in small local treatment centers. The fact that few students have encountered difficulty locating acceptable sites at which to pursue a relevant internship demonstrates a universal awareness of the increasing presence of illegal drugs throughout the Americas.

Each student also completes an investigative thesis, the fruits of which add to a growing scientific base of knowledge in addictions studies. The goal is to publish the results and thereby establish a bank of scientific knowledge that will strengthen national observatories on drugs and the Inter-American Observatory, which promote the OAS-CICAD and Spain's National Plan Against Drugs.

The 2004-2006 class is in the midst of pursuing the degree. While the first class comprised primarily students aged thirty to forty-five, recent college graduates have since enrolled, further diversifying the mix of backgrounds that characterizes this program.

Although considered to have met its initial goals and warmly regarded by graduates, challenges still remain. Many potential students are discouraged by the concept of an online degree program. However, asked about the academic rigor of the curriculum, Ayala claims that she can compete on an intellectual level with any professional in the field. She argues, "I feel that my knowledge is often superior to that of others, more holistic. By providing the sane education for people in the United States as for people who live in the jungles of Brazil or Peru, it represents the most pure democratization of education."

Further information on CICAD's M.A. in Drug Addictions Studies can be found at: www.unireddrogas.org.

Samantha Friedman is an International Politics/Latin American Studies major at Georgetown University. She interned at Americas during the summer of 2004.