A well known neuroscientist and one of the first African-American tenured science professors at Columbia University, has shaken up the debate about decriminalizing drugs. And as a result of his passion and work, Dr. Carl Hart, has become a hero to the people who are struggling hard to end the “War on Drugs.”
last year an in-depth profile of Dr. Carl Hart, by New York Times reporter John Leland, explores Hart’s journey from his childhood growing up in a housing project in Florida, to earning a PhD, to a tenured position at one of the country’s greatest universities.
In his profile of Dr. Hart, Leland writes: “ In Minneapolis, defense lawyers for Derek Chauvin, the former police officer found guilty on all counts for the killing of George Floyd, emphasized Mr. Floyd’s drug use to conjure a stereotype that Dr. Hart calls “the crazed Negro drug fiend.” This happens all the time when a Black person is killed by police, Hart said. “Drugs are the ideal scapegoat, because most Americans believe drugs make people crazy and it makes them less than human. Or superhuman.”
Dr. Hart argues that what most people think they know about drugs and drug abuse is wrong: that addiction is not a brain disease; that most of the 50 million Americans who use an illegal drug in a given year have overwhelmingly positive experiences; that our policies have been warped by a focus only on the bad outcomes; and that the results have been devastating for African-American families like his own.”
If you are curious about Hart’s criticism of his own profession, how his early experiences growing up in a housing project fueled his interest in exploring Americans relationship to drugs, and some impressive ideas for solutions to this serious problem, click here to read John Leland’s article in the New York Times.