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Reviews tagging 'Drug use'
Drug Use for Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear by Carl L. Hart
5 reviews
elihegy's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
this book is not about HOW to use drugs; it's a discussion on the different environments and mindsets surrounding the recreational use of certain drugs
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
maggies's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
I’m not unsympathetic to Hart’s arguments, particularly about the racialized and sensationalized attitudes towards drugs and drug use, but I’m just not entirely convinced. This is billed as a case for drugs to be legalized and/or decriminalized specifically because they help responsible adults in their “pursuit of happiness,” but defines responsible adults so narrowly as to miss out lots of people who would end up using drugs should they be legalized/decriminalized. The libertarian philosophy is also not up my alley, personally. I was also rubbed the wrong way by Hart’s claiming to be a better person for his drug use and also freely admitting to shutting himself away from his kids to use drugs in the days after their beloved dog died so that he could process his emotions or something. Miss me with that approach to parenting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use and Police brutality
Moderate: Animal death and Cursing
dramaqueentears's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Dr. Carl Hart begins by telling us about his experiences working as a drug and addiction researcher for NIDA and a professor at Columbia. He also comes out as a heroin user and tells his audience that he is not addicted to it. He dives into the immense history of drug laws in the US, how they are used to criminalize people of color, and how the science being published about drugs and their effect on the brain are wrong and influenced by a researcher’s personal opinions. He states that most people do not become addicted to the drugs they take and that people who are typically safer to use drugs are employed and neurotypical.
I have multiple feelings about this book and I’m not sure what to say about it here. I think others should read it and take from it what they will. It definitely achieved its goal, which is to make the public more open minded to recreational drug use. I learned a lot about the history and how misguided public opinion about drugs can be. I believe that all drugs should be legalized and more resources should exist for people to safely use drugs if they wish.
Where Dr. Hart lost me a bit was toward the end where he had a whole chapter on how he went through heroin withdrawal and believed it wasn’t that bad. I don’t believe he was being very objective in his describing his experience. Also some of the things he said about Johnny Cash and Nine Inch Nails claiming to be authorities on heroin all because they performed or wrote songs about addiction was just weird as hell. Either way, I believe this book is super important and people should be willing to re-examine what they believe about drugs and drug users.
I have multiple feelings about this book and I’m not sure what to say about it here. I think others should read it and take from it what they will. It definitely achieved its goal, which is to make the public more open minded to recreational drug use. I learned a lot about the history and how misguided public opinion about drugs can be. I believe that all drugs should be legalized and more resources should exist for people to safely use drugs if they wish.
Where Dr. Hart lost me a bit was toward the end where he had a whole chapter on how he went through heroin withdrawal and believed it wasn’t that bad. I don’t believe he was being very objective in his describing his experience. Also some of the things he said about Johnny Cash and Nine Inch Nails claiming to be authorities on heroin all because they performed or wrote songs about addiction was just weird as hell. Either way, I believe this book is super important and people should be willing to re-examine what they believe about drugs and drug users.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Police brutality, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction
linaanderson's review
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, Vomit, and Medical content