DRUG USE: Is Getting High an American Right?

The Next Big Idea

Next Big Idea Club

Self-improvement, Arts, Books, Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2021

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Every day, Dr. Carl Hart goes into his laboratory at Columbia University and gets people high. That research has led him to a surprising conclusion: the predominant effects of the drugs he administers — substances like cannabis, cocaine, heroin, and meth — are positive. In this unflinching conversation about Dr. Hart’s bold new book, “Drug Use for Grown-Ups,” Carl and Rufus discuss their own experiences with drugs, connect drug criminalization to structural racism, and ask whether drug use by responsible adults can be a good thing.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We have to understand that the War on Drugs was never about drugs.
0:11.2	The War on Drugs functioned and currently functions as a jobs program.
0:17.4	I'm Rufus Griskum and this is the next big idea.
0:23.0	Today I'm talking to Dr. Karl Hart who says the right to use drugs is enshrined in the
0:27.5	Declaration of Independence.
0:41.2	If you go to YouTube and search for Dr. Karl Hart, one of the first hits is this 2014
0:46.8	episode of the O'Reilly Factor. O'Reilly kicks off the show with the claim that so many people
0:52.1	have made over the years, it almost sounds uncontroversial. Drugs are bad.
0:58.8	If you use any intoxicating agent, your goal is to leave reality. You're not satisfied with your
1:04.2	current state of mind. You want to get high, buzz, blasted, whatever. Some adults can handle that
1:09.2	on occasion. No, this cannot. So it's literally Russian roulette. But you know who doesn't buy that
1:13.6	line of reasoning? Dr. Karl Hart. Bill, let's slow down. Let's think about the last three guys
1:21.6	who occupied the White House. They all smoked marijuana in their youth, right? For the record,
1:27.4	that's Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill, I didn't inhale Clinton.
1:32.1	But as I said in the talking, some can handle, but some cannot. And the prevalence of this is
1:38.1	overwhelming now. So you're going to have a lot of casualties on the battlefield. That's not
1:42.0	true. Let's talk about the statistic. Let's talk about the data. In 1978, it was 37% of the 12th
1:48.5	graders said that they smoked marijuana recently. Today, that number is down to 22%.
1:53.4	Not the number I just gave. Well, your number is wrong. Take it up with the National Institute
1:57.2	to Health, all right? I am a council member on the National Institute to Health. Your number
2:02.4	is wrong. I'm telling you, it's 22% of seniors who smoke marijuana in the past. That's a fact.
2:10.3	There are actually a lot of YouTube clips like that where Karl takes on the role of mythbuster.
	...

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