A review by beak
Drug Use for Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear by Carl L. Hart
2.0
Certainly didn't end up being my cup of tea.
I really like the premise of the book - that all types of drugs can be used in ways that contribute to your life in a positive way, but the presentation of this was a letdown.
Dr. Hart's argument boils down to 'I use drug x and it benefits me without harming me, therefore...'. He (rightly) speaks a lot about media misrepresentation of the impacts of drugs, and (rightly) speaks to how drugs being criminalized causes much of the harm associated with drug use in many cases. I can get along with all of this so far.
My beef here is that throughout the book you will find under-emphasized disclaimers that, as written in the epilogue, "the type of drug use described in this book should be limited to healthy, responsible adults". This disclaimer intuitively makes sense but opens up such a can of worms as to discredit much of what he states in the first place. For example, with the current understanding of the relationship between trauma and addictions, does Dr. Hart define someone with historical trauma as not being in good health? The omission of a conversation on his definitions of health strikes me as ultimately irresponsible. I think there was value to be had in digging into this, and the book would've benefited greatly from doing so.
Ultimately, to me, this book just felt rudderless. I did find it interesting to hear someone speak so openly about moderate use of heavy drugs. I hope this opens up cultural conversations about how drugs can be used and destigmatized, but I'd have been just as happy reading that in an article vs a full book.
I really like the premise of the book - that all types of drugs can be used in ways that contribute to your life in a positive way, but the presentation of this was a letdown.
Dr. Hart's argument boils down to 'I use drug x and it benefits me without harming me, therefore...'. He (rightly) speaks a lot about media misrepresentation of the impacts of drugs, and (rightly) speaks to how drugs being criminalized causes much of the harm associated with drug use in many cases. I can get along with all of this so far.
My beef here is that throughout the book you will find under-emphasized disclaimers that, as written in the epilogue, "the type of drug use described in this book should be limited to healthy, responsible adults". This disclaimer intuitively makes sense but opens up such a can of worms as to discredit much of what he states in the first place. For example, with the current understanding of the relationship between trauma and addictions, does Dr. Hart define someone with historical trauma as not being in good health? The omission of a conversation on his definitions of health strikes me as ultimately irresponsible. I think there was value to be had in digging into this, and the book would've benefited greatly from doing so.
Ultimately, to me, this book just felt rudderless. I did find it interesting to hear someone speak so openly about moderate use of heavy drugs. I hope this opens up cultural conversations about how drugs can be used and destigmatized, but I'd have been just as happy reading that in an article vs a full book.