Based on the scientific evidence, decide whether the herbal/dietary supplement is effective and safe for the intended use.
The report should cover the following topics:
1. Herbal/Dietary Supplement Regulations: Discuss the regulations that allow all herbals/dietary supplements to be marketed in Canada (~1 pg)
2. Herbal/Dietary Supplement Information: State the claims for the assigned herbal/dietary supplement (i.e. what is the herbal/dietary supplement intended to treat?). Describe the source, purported active ingredient(s), and proposed mechanism of action (if known) of the herbal/dietary supplement (~0.5 pg)
3. Efficacy research: Discuss the results/conclusions and merits/limitations of three papers that address the efficacy of the assigned herbal/dietary supplement (~1.25 pg)
4. Safety research: Discuss the results/conclusions and merits/limitations of three papers that address the safety of the assigned herbal/dietary supplement (~1.25 pg)
5. Conclusion: Based on the research presented in the paper, explain if you would advocate for or against the use of the assigned herbal/dietary supplement. In your opinion, are the regulations for the assigned herbal/dietary supplement adequate? (~1 pg)

The format of this assessment is as follows:
• The report should be a maximum of 5 pages (references not included in page max)
• 1.5 spacing, 12pt font
• If an article discusses both safety and efficacy, it is fine to use the article for both the safety and efficacy sections of the report
• The research papers can be obtained from the group research discussion forum, or through individual research
• Students may use any search engine they wish to obtain scholary articles for their subject. Tutorials on using the databases provided by Queen’s library and Google scholar are provided:

Learning outcomes:
CLO1: Engage in discussions about the pharmacological principles of drug use and abuse to advocate for healthy and appropriate drug use.
CLO2: Describe the mechanism of action and physiological effects of classes of drugs to be able to summarize the reason(s) for their use and abuse in society.
CLO5: Effectively discuss and apply relevant pharmacological principles within a group to successfully complete collaborative assignments.

Competencies:
Communicator: Students must answer all questions above, relating it to material studied from previous modules, respective articles or external literature. Students must also accomplish this in a concise and informative manner, using terminology learned in class.
Professional: Students must present the information researched in a professional and organized manner for an informed audience.
Collaborator: Students must analyze research papers relevant to their topic in groups to inform their final product.
Advocate: Students must weigh the efficacy and safety of the assigned herbal/dietary supplement to determine whether use is recommended.