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A review by jerrica
Drug Use for Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear by Carl L. Hart
4.0
Made sure to save this one for when I was DONE with the 40 book challenge at school. ;)
I saw Dr. Hart speak about a year and a half ago and found him to be an engaging speaker who works to connect with his audience more than the average academic. I'm not sure this entirely translates to the book. During his talk, Dr. Hart spoke with a PowerPoint full of hard science data points behind him. I think this was the most effective way that he could have delivered this information, as he tries his best to be accessible.
In the book, I found this accessibility to be somewhat of a deterrent to delivering his information. It made him seem a bit defensive at points. It's a shame because his argument, that drugs in and of themselves are not dangerous to the average healthy adult who uses them, is such an important one. Rather, racist and inconsistently enforced drug laws, preexisting psychiatric issues, and insecurity in other parts of one's life (food, employment, housing, etc) are far more dangerous to the individual. Drugs are an easy scapegoat for politicians and other policy makers because it is easier to ban a drug than to address the underlying aforementioned issues.
I'm glad that Dr. Hart's book exists and that it makes these arguments. There should be more books like it. Addiction makes for an easy storyline, and goodness do I love myself a good addiction memoir. But the reality, as Dr. Hart points out, is that addiction does not make up anywhere close to the majority of the case for the average drug user (about 20 percent of users of any drug will get addicted whereas 80 percent have no issues). However, I do think his book was a bit rambling at points and could have been scientifically tighter given his background.
I saw Dr. Hart speak about a year and a half ago and found him to be an engaging speaker who works to connect with his audience more than the average academic. I'm not sure this entirely translates to the book. During his talk, Dr. Hart spoke with a PowerPoint full of hard science data points behind him. I think this was the most effective way that he could have delivered this information, as he tries his best to be accessible.
In the book, I found this accessibility to be somewhat of a deterrent to delivering his information. It made him seem a bit defensive at points. It's a shame because his argument, that drugs in and of themselves are not dangerous to the average healthy adult who uses them, is such an important one. Rather, racist and inconsistently enforced drug laws, preexisting psychiatric issues, and insecurity in other parts of one's life (food, employment, housing, etc) are far more dangerous to the individual. Drugs are an easy scapegoat for politicians and other policy makers because it is easier to ban a drug than to address the underlying aforementioned issues.
I'm glad that Dr. Hart's book exists and that it makes these arguments. There should be more books like it. Addiction makes for an easy storyline, and goodness do I love myself a good addiction memoir. But the reality, as Dr. Hart points out, is that addiction does not make up anywhere close to the majority of the case for the average drug user (about 20 percent of users of any drug will get addicted whereas 80 percent have no issues). However, I do think his book was a bit rambling at points and could have been scientifically tighter given his background.