Drug Use for Grown-Ups

Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear

Carl L. Hart

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Hardback

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English

E P Dutton & Co Inc
13 April 2021

Civil rights & citizenship; Neurosciences

"""Hart's argument that we need to drastically revise our current view of illegal drugs is both powerful and timely . . . when it comes to the legacy of this country's war on drugs, we should all share his outrage.""-The New York Times Book Review

From one of the world's foremost experts on the subject, a powerful argument that the greatest damage from drugs flows from their being illegal, and a hopeful reckoning with the possibility of their use as part of a responsible and happy life

Dr. Carl L. Hart, Ziff Professor at Columbia University and former chair of the Department of Psychology, is one of the world's preeminent experts on the effects of so-called recreational drugs on the human mind and body. Dr. Hart is open about the fact that he uses drugs himself, in a happy balance with the rest of his full and productive life as a researcher and professor, husband, father, and friend. In Drug Use for Grown-Ups, he draws on decades of research and his own personal experience to argue definitively that the criminalization and demonization of drug use--not drugs themselves--have been a tremendous scourge on America, not least in reinforcing this country's enduring structural racism.

Dr. Hart did not always have this view. He came of age in one of Miami's most troubled neighborhoods at a time when many ills were being laid at the door of crack cocaine. His initial work as a researcher was aimed at proving that drug use caused bad outcomes. But one problem kept cropping up- the evidence from his research did not support his hypothesis. From inside the massively well-funded research arm of the American war on drugs, he saw how the facts did not support the ideology. The truth was dismissed and distorted in order to keep fear and outrage stoked, the funds rolling in, and Black and brown bodies behind bars.

Drug Use for Grown-Ups will be controversial, to be sure- the propaganda war, Dr. Hart argues, has been tremendously effective. Imagine if the only subject of any discussion about driving automobiles was fatal car crashes. Drug Use for Grown-Ups offers a radically different vision- when used responsibly, drugs can enrich and enhance our lives. We have a long way to go, but the vital conversation this book will generate is an extraordinarily important step."

By: Carl L. Hart
Imprint: E P Dutton & Co Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 157mm, Spine: 19mm
Weight: 497g
ISBN: 9781101981641
ISBN 10: 1101981644
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 13 April 2021
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Dr. Carl L. Hart is the Ziff Professor of Psychology in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Columbia University. He is also a Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Professor Hart has published numerous scientific and popular articles in the area of neuropsychopharmacology and is co-author of the textbook Drugs, Society and Human Behavior (with Charles Ksir). His book High Price was the 2014 winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.

Reviews for Drug Use for Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear

You must read this book. It's an eye-opening, mind-expanding masterpiece from one of the most important scientists in the world. You won't be the same after. --Johann Hari, author of Chasing the Scream You may not agree with the author's personal enthusiasm for recreational drug use (and I happen not to). Nonetheless, Drug Use For Grown-Ups is a powerful, convincing tour of the hypocrisy that underlies so many of our drug laws, and the brutally unequal ways in which the laws are enforced. One shares Hart's fury at how, as per usual, it is the weak and marginalized members of society who are most targeted. --Robert Sapolsky, author of Behave Carl Hart provides a viscerally personal and candid book that debunks common myths that demonize recreational drug use. Hart--a neuroscientist and expert on substance abuse--brings us inside his own experiences with enlightened drug use and his frustration with the ineffectiveness and harm of the war on drugs. His book is timely with the dramatic rise in overdoses in the US compared to societies that have decriminalized drugs and seen a reduction in usage, overdoses and arrests. --BJ Casey, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Yale University