Carl Hart || Drug Use for Grown-Ups
The Psychology Podcast
iHeartPodcasts
4.4 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 14 April 2022
⏱️ 61 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Today we welcome Carl Hart. He is the Ziff Professor of Psychology in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Columbia University. He is known for his research on neuropsychopharmacology and his advocacy for the decriminalization of recreational drugs. Carl is the author of High Price and has co-authored the introductory textbook Drugs, Society, and Human Behavior with Charles Ksir. His most recent book is called Drug Use for Grown-Ups.
In this episode, I talk to Carl Hart about drug use and addiction. Society is quick to judge all drug users as addicts but Carl’s research found that the majority of drug users do not meet the criteria for pathology. Recreational drugs, when used responsibly, can have positive effects on people. Instead of waging a war on drugs, Carl advocates for laws that better regulate the production and sale of substances. We also touch on the topics of health, law, racism, cognition, and sociology.
Website: drcarlhart.com
Twitter: @drcarlhart
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Topics
02:32 Carl’s interest in neuropsychopharmacology
06:12 The brain disease model of addiction
11:22 Should we talk about drugs with kids?
13:47 Responsible drug use for grown-ups
17:08 Drugs in pursuit of happiness
22:54 The Harrison Narcotics Tax ActÂ
29:28 Scott’s experience with edibles
33:21 Why we need drug checking facilities
37:01 The drug user tropes in mediaÂ
41:59 Predictors of drug abuse and addictionÂ
46:42 Drug overdose and safety
50:09 Personal responsibility in drug addiction
52:45 Our moralism is killing us
55:06 Coming out as a heroin user
57:52 Bob Marley and James BaldwinÂ
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | When it comes to drug addiction, if we know that the vast majority of users of any drug |
| 0:05.0 | do not meet criteria for addiction, then it tells us we have to look beyond the drug |
| 0:11.3 | in order to try and understand what's going on with addiction. |
| 0:20.3 | Hello and welcome to the Psychology podcast. Today we welcome Karl Hart to the show. |
| 0:26.8 | Karl is the ZIFT professor of psychology in the department of psychology and also a professor |
| 0:33.7 | of psychiatry at Columbia University. He is known for his research on neuro-psychopharmacology |
| 0:39.7 | and his advocacy for the decriminalization of recreational drugs. He's the author of high price |
| 0:45.3 | and has co-authored the introductory textbook drugs, society, and human behavior with Charles |
| 0:52.0 | his most recent book is called Drug Use for Grownups and that's the focus of my conversation |
| 0:56.8 | today with Karl. I really like Karl. I really have a great respect for him as a scientist as well |
| 1:02.8 | as a really just a cool dude. I loved nerding out with him about the latest data and facts surrounding |
| 1:10.0 | the responsible use of drugs and how people, especially adults, can have more responsible use of |
| 1:16.4 | drugs but also ways in which society policies and the police have created a lot of racist narratives |
| 1:23.5 | that are not grounded in the actual facts of drug use. So what I really like about this episode is |
| 1:29.6 | being able to really dive into the realities of the matter and a lot of things blew my mind. |
| 1:35.7 | You know a lot of things might surprise you too. A lot of things you took for granted that you |
| 1:39.8 | thought you knew about drug use and just how many people actually get addicted to drugs by itself |
| 1:45.6 | is very very few and number compared to the now as we learn and instead we talk about the actual |
| 1:51.4 | predictive factors that are most likely to make people addicted drugs and also very importantly |
| 1:58.0 | we discuss very concrete changes we can make in our society to lessen deaths and lessen the |
| 2:04.4 | discrimination and stigmatization we have surrounding drug use among adults. So I really hope you |
| 2:11.6 | enjoy this conversation as much as I did and with that further ado I bring you Carl Hart. |
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