While dispelling any stigmas surrounding drug use, spotlighting systemic racism and resenting ignorant drug laws, Dr. Carl Hart pitches the idea of legalizing and regulating all drugs for a safer, more understanding society. 

RATING: 4.6/5 (BPR Recommended!)

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KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• “If people let government decide which foods they eat and medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” -Thomas Jefferson

• Several large research studies have shown that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with decreased risk of stroke and heart disease. 

• Research shows that addiction affects only 10 to 30% of those who use even the most stigmatize drugs, such as heroin or meth. Addiction represents a minority of drug effects, but it receives almost all the attention. Imagine if you were interested in learning more about cars and could only find information about car crashes. 

• The American taxpayer spends approximately $35 billion each year fighting the war on drugs. In 1981, the sum total of America’s annual drug-control budget was a mere $1.5 billion. 

• The war on drugs has been a financial boon for law enforcement and prison authorities . More drug arrest equate to more overtime, more “throwaway people” in prison, and bigger budgets. 

• In Pennsylvania, an incarcerated inmate is counted as a resident of the jurisdiction where their prison is located for purposes of allocating financial resources from the state. 

• Some southern police forces believed cocaine rendered black people superhuman and that they were unaffected by .32 caliber bullets. Incredibly, these ridiculous assertions were actually believed which prompted police forces to switch to a larger .38 caliber weapon in order to deal with them.

• “Rarely do we find [people] who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions.” -MLK

• Correlation or a link between factors does not necessarily mean that one factor is the cause of another. For example, there is a strong correlation between the numbers of umbrellas put up and the amount of precipitation, but it would be foolish to conclude that putting up umbrellas causes rainfall. 

• Marijuana use rates were highest in the late 1970s. 45% of high school seniors report having ever smoked marijuana in 2019, compared to 60% of seniors in 1979. 

• “If the words ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ don’t include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn’t worth the hemp it was written on.” -Terence McKenna