Carl Hart: Columbia Professor, Loving Father, Responsible Heroin User
reason.com
reason.com
However, I have a problem with the professor. He consistently across all media outlets promotes this idea of 'responsible heroin user'. Maybe he, himself, is able to use heroin responsibly. However, the combination of 1) the reward prediction error that we get in the ventral tegmental area when taking opioids specifically, 2)the negative side effects when you try to come off of these drugs 3) reduced dopamine production in the VTA and the nucleus accumbens when you start using these drugs often and 4) how social effects like where you take the drugs/etc can reinforce the behavior make me feel that maybe this professor can't give up heroin and is trying to justify his own actions. But maybe he can regulate his heroin intake; fine. most people can't, and I think promoting especially these more addictive drugs is extremely dangerous.
But I am sure he is aware of all of this, and in general he is really a controversial figure. However, I think when this gets trickled down to maybe individuals that are less aware of the effects of these drugs it makes it seem like they aren't as dangerous. We thought this for a long time about opoids: I once worked with a surgeon that told me he knows now that 1/5 people he gives opioids to after surgery will become addicted. Not all people know this even now.
You are going to hurt your brain contorting it to give him the benefit of the doubt.
He claims marijuana doesn’t make you paranoid, meth doesn’t make you violent, and the ‘typical’ heroin junkies is a perfectly functional professional.
It’s sad…
Columbia decides it’s first tenured black professor should be a dreadlock heroin junkie who advocates for crack cocaine… it’s almost like the selection committee was composed of Klan members intent on perpetuating racist caricatures.
Society has problems regulating things that occasionally go wrong. For instance, most drunk drivers make it home. Most cigarette users don't get cancer-- and if they do, it takes several decades. Most sugared soda drinkers don't get diabetes right away.
To me, the idea of a responsible heroin user falls into the same camp. Sure, some high functioning professional may be able to coast along taking it casually. But usually, the heroin users get sucked into some vortex, perhaps by a problem in life or something else. There's a reason why there are so many overdoses. All of those users used to be responsible. Then one day they weren't anymore.
Addiction and the negative consequences of drug use are almost entirely driven by social and psychological isolation. Overdoses and tainted products are caused by ignorance and black market commerce. Cartels and gang violence and police corruption are all enabled by maintaining the farce of harsh anti-drug policies. Legalization and requiring drug use safety education as a prerequisite for drug licensing can inform people about how to use responsibly. Limit purchase amounts to responsible doses. Educate everyone. Stop jailing, fining, and ostracizing drug users.
We've tried 60+ years of the war on drugs and "just say no" and self righteous people with opinions about fried eggs and "this is your brain on drugs."
Your way failed and is responsible for the carnage and human wreck left in the wake of drug abuse. The number of black men stuck in the cycle of prison and broken families is an atrocity.
Our society is fractured and fragile, politically and ideologically polarized, and technologically primed to isolate people in ways we are ill-equipped to handle. These social pressures will lead vulnerable people to self medicate, and ignorance can be lethal.
Seems to me that the sober, anti-drug, just say no folks are the ones inflicting tragedy on society and denying reality far more vehemently than the most paranoid addict.
It's time to legalize everything, require education and per-substance licensing, and to treat drug abuse as a health issue, to be dealt with by individuals and their doctors.
To do otherwise is to support the current status quo of sacrificing the vulnerable to a false sense of righteousness. It's not working. Change course.