High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know about Drugs and Society

by Carl L. Hart, J.D. Jackson (Reading)

A pioneering neuroscientist shares his story of growing up in one of Miami s toughest neighborhoods and how it led him to his groundbreaking work in drug addiction.

As a youth, Carl Hart didn t realize the value of school; he studied just enough to stay on the basketball team. At the same time, he was immersed in street life. Today he is a cutting-edge neuroscientist Columbia University s first tenured African American professor in the sciences whose landmark, controversial research is redefining our understanding of addiction.

In this provocative and eye-opening memoir, he recalls his journey of self-discovery and weaves his past and present. Hart goes beyond the hype of the antidrug movement as he examines the relationship among drugs, pleasure, choice, and motivation, both in the brain and in society. His findings shed new light on common ideas about race, poverty, and drugs, and explain why current policies are failing.

Though Hart escaped neighborhoods that were dominated by entrenched poverty and the knot of problems associated with it, he has not turned his back on his roots. Determined to make a difference, he tirelessly applies his scientific research to help save real lives. But balancing his former street life with his achievements today has not been easy a struggle he reflects on publicly for the first time.

A powerful story of hope and change, of a scientist who has dedicated his life to helping others, "High Price "will alter the way we think about poverty, race, and addiction and how we can effect change.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Psychology, Memoir, Drugs, Neuroscience, Addiction

1 pages, Audio CD

First published June 11, 2013

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I have to make sure I don't engage in conversations with people who don't abide by the rules of evidence.” Dr. Carl Hart, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Columbia University (and eye candy, which is never a bad thing).

Dr. Hart has written a dual-subject book. Part of it is his biography, of how he grew up in a poor, culturally-impoverished, abusive home in Miami and lived the life of the hood but managed to avoid crime, addiction and became a scientist. He isn't tooting his own horn, but more trying to work out what it was that saved him and propelled him him forward and the lessons that can be learned from that. What saved Carl Hart was sport and good teachers. And his first class brain, but he didn't discover that for quite a while.

The other part of the book is debunking popular myths about drugs and drug addiction. His web site, headed by the quote I began this review with, is a scientist's view of cocaine, marijuana and all the other will ruin your life and fry your brain drugs.

One of the most interesting discussions in the book is about Portugal. All drugs have been decriminalised there for up to 10 days supply. People caught with drugs have to attend a drug-addiction committee with several concerned professionals (but no police) where they all sit around the table and discuss the drug problem and how they can help. If there isn't any problem, then there is a small fine to pay and that's that. Much akin to a parking citation! Portugal has less criminals, less people with criminal records, less addiction and dealing of hard drugs and more or less the same number of marijuana smokers as it ever had. Really, everywhere, the majority of people prefer alcohol over street drugs.

The book would have got 5 stars but it was too short! I wanted more. I look forward to reading more of Carl Hart's well written books.
______

Notes on reading the book. So the "this is your brain on drugs" and you'll end up a toothless meth addict and all the rest turns out to be mostly untrue. Not even the nurses in the research hospital can tell who is a research subject for heart problems and who for cocaine addiction. I hope the book stays this good, I love having fake preconceptions from spin doctors shattered, especially when I had no idea that's what they were and thought they were the truth.

[Erica Mauter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I appreciate the story, and the point Dr. Hart is getting at about research and drug policy. What I wanted was less memoir and more critical commentary. The two mostly worked together, but this book really needed tighter editing; it didn't come together for me until about two-thirds of the way through.

Side note: I used to work in the pharmaceutical industry. I left for a variety of reasons including ethical concerns about marketing. So I was sort of shocked to see an image of Dr. Hart presenting some of his findings, which I'm pretty sure is research that directly supported a product that my former company developed and marketed/sold. That product is the specific example I use to illustrate my concerns about the ethics of pharmaceutical marketing.

[Dagio_maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Titoli di giornale roboanti che provocano l’isteria collettiva.
Organizzazioni governative che si compattano contro il Mostro Droga diffondendo campagne che allarmano facendone terrorismo psicologico.
Ecco che lo Stato stesso diventa spacciatore e quello che smercia è una valanga di dati pompati, di informazioni che non sono tali perché non danno conto delle reali componenti farmacologiche.
Le campagne di questo genere hanno nei decenni rinforzato tutta una serie di pregiudizi sociali che condannano a vista ogni minoranza etnica.
La risposta è una chiusura sempre maggiore delle comunità che non a caso sono sempre più ghetto con propri codici e linguaggi di riconoscimento.
Disoccupazione ed esclusione sociale si assommano alle mancate opportunità di scolarizzazione.

Un importante testo critico che mantiene un ottimo equilibrio tra il testo scientifico divulgativo e la testimonianza diretta ed autobiografica dell’autore Carl Hart che nel 1996 fu l'unico studente nero in tutti gli Stati Uniti a conseguire un dottorato in neuroscienze. .

La sua storia, però parte dal ghetto di Miami e sono solo piccoli particolari quelli che lo porteranno a distanziarsi sempre più dal destino comune a tutti i ragazzi e le ragazze della comunità afroamericana.
Piccole svolte della vita che hanno fatto la differenza.

Un testo critico molto importante perché è vero che ci parla di una realtà sociale che non è quella nostrana ma nonostante le ovvie differenze dobbiamo riconoscere lo stesso humus di fondo che rende fertile il terreno di crescita dei pregiudizi socio-culturali.

Come si può negare che
nero ↔ droga ↔ delinquenza
sia una concatenazione di pensiero diffusa?

Tutto viene dato per scontato ma Hart ci fa capire non lo è perché la vita di una persona è composta da tante varianti e non può essere massificata e giudicate per il gruppo etnico di appartenenza.

Il pregiudizio come sempre trova fondamento nella grande ignoranza e quelli che si fanno chiamare organi d’informazione non informano affatto ma, al contrario, diffondono falsità per cui se dico cocaina penso a consumatori ricchi (bianchi) e non pericolosi; se, invece, dico” crack” penso ai neri, poveri, dipendenti e assolutamente nocivi per la società.
Quanti sanno, invece, che cocaina e crack sono farmacologicamente la stessa cosa?

Che i difensori della pubblica morale non si spaventino, però, il Professor Carl Hart non propugna la liberalizzazione ma qualcosa che si chiama depenalizzazione *.

Basta non scrivo altro se non:
leggetelo,
informatevi
e
diffondete.



Link utili
▲ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Hart
▲ http://dcarlhart.com/
▲ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKXWe...

* L’esempio del Portogallo che dal 2001 ha scelto la depenalizzazione di tutte le droghe:

▲ https://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2016...
▲https://www.ilpost.it/2013/03/28/depe...

[Riya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I begin my review of this book, I want to mention that I was provided with a free advanced copy of this book by Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This book will be released June 11th of this year. The digital copy of this book that I read had the title of "High Price" while on Goodreads it is called "The Pleasure Paradox"; both books have the same cover but I am not sure what the official title will be once it is published.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

My summary of the book: Carl Hart is a man that grew up in some of the most dangerous neighborhoods of Miami in the 1980's; from a young age he was exposed to family violence, random shootings, drugs, poverty, and racism. While most young men in his situation turned to crack cocaine and gangs, Carl was fortunate enough to learn the value of hard work (through his love of basketball) and was able to join the air force, which provided him with the opportunity to experience different cultures and attend college. Despite Carl's background and all the trials and tribulations he faced and conquered while pursuing his education, he managed to become a psychology professor in a prestigious school while specializing in neuropsychopharmacology. Now how about that for an uplifting, great success story?

My review: Not only is this a great memoir about achieving your dreams and pursuing your passions despite early hardships, this is an incredibly informative book about the research Carl Hart has initiated in the study of drugs, particularly crack cocaine and methamphetamine. The revelations in this book will completely change your view on some of these illegal substances and will show that much of the information the media, schools, and DARE programs have taught us about drugs is inaccurate and even dangerous. The hysteria that surrounds some of these drugs is so intense and creates so much fear in the public that people forget to be compassionate to those that are addicted, and instead of creating a harm reduction or decriminalization approach for those that use these drugs, we lock them up for years in prisons that fail to rehabilitate these individuals and instead leave them no other choices but a life of crime, for who really wants to hire a felon or a person that has no job skills and education because he has spent his early twenties living in a cell? This book will definitely change the way you view drugs and the people who choose to use them.

Things I learned:
* Most drug users never become truly addicted, especially if they have a good social support network consisting of caring friends and family. "Indeed, a great deal of pathological drug use is driven by unmet social needs, by being alienated and having difficulty connecting with others."
* We've all heard of the experiment where rats will push a lever that gives them a dose of cocaine over and over again until they overdose and die, but did they ever tell you that these particular rats were kept in total isolation so that they had no better alternatives in their lives than to dose themselves with copious amounts of cocaine. Rats that are raised in a social environment with positive reinforcers prefer those healthy alternatives to drugs.
* Contingency Management is a new and effective therapy that is used in changing addictive behavior in users by providing alternative positive reinforcers. Punishments (such as incarceration) don't help the drug addict at all and actually hurt him because of the criminal record and gaps in their work history. More patients in contingency management programs complete their treatment plans and stay drug free than those in the traditional 12-step programs.

I highly recommend this book to those that are interested in learning about new ways to approach the drug problems in this country and help those that are addicted - truly help them, instead of ineffectively punishing them like the current drug laws dictate today. There are now better ways of treating addiction, and we should not stick with those old methods that have proven themselves to be a complete failure. It is time to try something new if we want to really help, instead of demonizing those that are either users or are addicted.

[Glennchuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first 50 pages or so were pretty stiff and I didn't think I'd finish this one. But then, every other page or so, he'd take one of my preconceptions about drugs, behavior, or society and smash it into teeny tiny bits. Also, as he progressed through his own amazing life story, the book flowed better for me. By the time he got to the science that has transformed his own ideas about how we mishandle drug use/abuse in America, I was completely on board. The science wasn't too dense for me, a non-scientific reader.

One of the best things Hart did was make clear to a lay reader the difference between public policy based on anecdotal (often hysterical) "evidence" and policy based on thorough, dispassionate science. He shines a light on some forms of drug research for which the data don't remotely support the dire conclusions--which are then hyped into charicature by the media.

My favorite example: Have you heard about the experiments in which rats will perform a task, such as tapping a bar, in order to get a hit of cocaine or heroin, and they just tap-tap-tap that bar until they die? Sure, I'd heard of that one. But those rats, Hart points out, were isolated in a distinctly un-rat-like environment. They were the rat equivalent of bored/scared/pissed. When the same type of experiment was performed on rats that lived more naturally with other rats, having sex, burrowing in dark places, driving tiny race cars (OK, I made that last one up), and otherwise having plenty of meaningful stuff to do, they often didn't tap that bar enough to even be considered addicted, much less to OD. Haven't heard of that experiment before? Me neither.

Hart says some drug research is skewed because reinforcing the demonization of drugs helps researchers compete for grants. It also happens because the researchers truly believe--as Hart once did--the underlying myths about the nature, extent and effects of drug addiction. Hart doesn't crusade for legalizing drugs. It's a nuanced argument I won't even try to summarize, other than to say he makes a strong case for at least decriminalizing drugs and devoting more resources to studying the potential effects of legalization/decriminalization.

His point is that we have to stop the cycle of incarcerating drug users, thus making it nearly impossible for them to get jobs, parent their children, and generally have a stake in a civil society. Drugs and addiction do shatter lives, no question. But the underlying problem isn't the drugs, it's the misguided war on drugs.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Updated 11/2016: The thing that most annoys me about this book, isn't actually the book, but the reviews that say it's not good enough because it's a memoir. Yes, it IS a memoir (as it clearly says) but it is also a book about race, drugs and drug policy. People who are reviewing the book have had a tendency to assume the pages should be filled with more evidence and science. That's a mistake. The author has worked hard to indicate that the book is in no way a scientific journal article.
This book totally entertained me. I will ALWAYS remember the author's retelling of his first experience hanging out with Melissa and smoking pot. I laugh every time I think of it.
Although I would consider myself more left than right on drug policy, I do have serious concerns (and close familial addiction/destruction) about drug use.
I should mention one issue I had with the writer. I am a fairly liberal female and was somewhat taken aback by his own perceptions of his super slutty behavior. I think he believes it makes him look manly - it doesn't, it just makes him look creepy.
Did this book change the way I view drugs and drug policy? Absolutely. Does Dr. Hart perseverate on the race issue? No way. Although this book is about his findings on drugs, it's also completely and totally about his own experience being a black man. Excellent and very highly recommended!

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Hart is a brilliant person with both real world knowledge, and years of clinical and scholarly research to bolster his research.

This book was largely a memoir of his childhood and youth in Miami, his education, and his research in neuroscience and the effects of drugs on the brain. This book, written a few years ago now, could easily have a follow up with more information on his research projects and his activism and advocacy.

[Maryam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for a local book club and well it made think of many facts that I believed so strongly in.

This book has two parts, at first Dr. Hart talks about his past, him growing up in a black poor neighborhood in Miami, Florida where there were always violence, drugs and poverty. He talks how he was good in math but never cared for, how in those areas education was known as a burden for black people and the only thing aside from drug was sport and he chose Basketball. He believe it was pure luck that he never were engaged in armed robberies and drug dealing. Among his sibling he and only one sister were brought up by a grandmother which emphasized nonstop about importance of education.

He opens his way to arm force and then following his girlfriend to another city and a local college where he meets three mentor who change his life and he follows a carrier in education and science.
In the other part of the book he uses his studies to deflect the belief about how truly harmful are drugs. We always heard that Cocaine, Crack Cocaine and many other drugs are immediately addictive and even being a random drug user will lead to addiction. Dr Hart doesn’t believe in this saying.

There are interesting statistics in the book like how decriminalization of drug in Portugal has decreased the crimes and even drug addiction there and how most of criminalizing drug in US is aiming only a poor minority of society.

I’d recommend this book,we need to hear this side of story of drugs and justice system around it.

[Morgan Blackledge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once and a while a book reaches into your heart. For me, this is one of those.

This book resonated with me in a way that felt uncanny, almost as if the author was speaking directly to me. For reasons I can't easily describe, this book moved me to tears again and again.

Reading some of the negative and lukewarm reviews was equally odd for me. Did we read the same book? The answer must be yes. So I'm left to conclude that the book is particularly resonant with me for some very personal reasons.

As a man. As a father. As an aspiring professor that spent time in the learning disability "trailer" too. As a hard core functional contextual big B cognitive behavioral therapist. As a neuroscience fanatic. As a clinician working with dual diagnosed, low SES, substance dependent populations. As a human that strives and struggles, I relate to this part memoir, part neuroscience, part behavioral analysis, part political critique, part sociological analysis part confused rant book.

Will everyone love this book? Fuck no! Obviously not. But for me, reading it was an immensely powerful, validating, invigorating, transformative experience.

Dr. Carl is a fucking ROCK STAR. Thank you for sacking up and giving voice to this dangerous and important perspective. It needed to be said, and it took huge balls to say it. I don't agree with every little utterance. But this book is a game changer and I'm grateful to have read it.

[Po Po · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dr. Hart claims we need to calm the fuck down about crack and meth (in other words, de-stigmatize recreational drug use). Using drugs occasionally doesn't necessarily produce a non-functioning unproductive member of society.

It's a common misconception that once you start using a "hard drug", you will become instantly addicted. Hart proves this isn't so. In Hart's research, he has also debunked another myth-- that occasional use of drugs destroys brain cells and lowers cognitive function.

* * *

Drug laws disproportionately target black people (possession of crack cocaine is much more harshly punished than powder cocaine).

* * *

The military gives amphetamines to soldiers in order to increase energy, focus and concentration. Amphetamine is also the active ingredient in the prescription medication known as Adderall which is routinely given to kids to treat ADHD. The chemical structure of amphetamine is nearly identical to that of methamphetamine. In fact, the effects of meth are increased energy and enhanced focus and concentration just like that of amphetamines. So, why the social stigma on meth?!

* * *

Unfortunately the majority of this book is an unglorified autobiography, rather than an in-depth study on drugs and society. The drug research material comprises only about 20 pages (probably less) out of a 300+ page comprehensive examination and dissection of the life and times of Cool Carl.*



*His actual DJ alias.

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this didn't challenge everything I know about drugs and society.. The authors story was interesting, however, Dr. hart's battle of being addicted to being cool was the biggest challenge of the story as far as I could see.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book does have some truly interesting content and observations on the correlations between race and drug culture. I have found myself thinking often about the very (now) obvious message. The issue is that I wanted it presented in much less of an auto-biographical (and opinionated) way. I think I'll be looking for some essays written by Carl Hart instead of completing this book. I read through most of it but found myself quickly skimming through pages that seemed to talk about small anecdotes from his teenage sex life or dialogue from decades ago.

I understand his pride and wanting to write this book given the circumstances in which he grew up, but at times it felt like the message of the book was lost to his reminiscing of the past. I'm not sure that I understand the need for him to describe his experiences in the first grade in vivid detail- these anecdotes quickly begin to blur the line between science and opinion.

[Mary Cummings · Rating 2 out of 5]

Toward the beginning stages of the publishing process of High Price, an editor dropped the ball in a big way. Someone should've said, "Dr. Price, you're trying to tell two completely different stories here: your memoir of growing up and out of the projects in Florida to eventually become a respected scientist and professor, and an unrelated story about drugs, drug policy, and addiction." How in the world did this book get published like this? Dr. Price has a good narrative to tell about his rise to success. And he has a great point to make about why drug policy in the US is completely wrong. However, these two topics have very little to do with one another and make reading them within one book really difficult. Until the last couple chapters of the the text, it's mainly about race relations in our country and Dr. Hart just tooting his own horn -- which makes the title and description very misleading.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will forever think about drugs, addiction and poverty in a different way. I really enjoyed the memoir part of the book, and although I don't think I would really like the author, and I certainly would not have liked him as a young man, he makes his point very convincingly when he talks about the potential decriminalization (as opposed to legalization) of drugs.

[Shane Pins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. Talks about how being a drug user is bad and how he’s a neuroscientist but Literally after the book was published it was announced he’s a heroin addict😊

[Dominick Quartuccio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did you know that crack cocaine and powder cocaine are chemically the same drug?
As are Meth and the prescription drug Adderall?

Then why are crack cocaine and meth believed to be such horrifyingly devastating drugs, while cocaine and Adderall are often seen as recreational drugs of high society?

Dr. Carl Hart enlightened me to these questions in High Price.

High Price is a book with many layers:

- A scientific assault on what we've been conditioned to believe about drugs. While Dr. Hart does not minimize the dangers of drugs, he exposes a number of myths steeped in unfounded anecdotal evidence and racial biases, which he believes has led to the continued losing battle of the War on Drugs.

- A direct and provocative dialogue on the role of public policy, social standards, race and drugs...and why our policies are contributing to the problem, not the solution.

- A biography of an infinitely interesting, talented and flawed man - Dr. Carl Hart - who grew up around drugs and violence. His storytelling allows the reader to follow his evolution of consciousness, from the streets, to the Air Force, to Columbia University as a Dr. of Neuroscience. I find myself wanting to seek out and meet after finishing reading his story.

I recommend this book to anyone who is:
- Seeking a rich dialogue on the true scientific effects of drugs (and blowing away commonly held perceptions)
- Unafraid to explore their own social/racial biases and blind spots
- Interested in reading the biography of a fascinating man who beat the odds, is breaking down decades of scientific mis-truths, and who continues to struggle to find his home while caught between the worlds of his past and present

[Jo Skårderud · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leste denne boka for å finne ut mer om effektene av narkotikapolitikk i USA. Det var en tabbe. Mens rundt 20 prosent av boka handler om narkopolitikk, og denne delen er bra, er resten selvbiografi om Carl Hart. Den er tidvis jævlig. Jeg vet ikke om det er en kulturforskjell eller om Hart bare er høy på seg selv, men det er en skrytebonanza som aldri ville kunnet komme på trykk i et norsk forlag. Hart dypdykker ned i hvor hardtarbeidende han er, hvordan han lå med så mange damer i ungdommen at man kunne kalt ham sexavhengig (ikke for å skryte, som han sier), hvordan han var en av de kuleste djene i USA, osv, osv. Hart er svart rettighetsaktivist, og det er mulig denne skrytehistorien er skrevet på bakgrunn av noen greier om at svarte menn i USA ikke skal være redde for å være stolte av hva de har fått til, men det fungerer dårlig for meg. Han har en slags rød tråd i selvbiografien om at det handler om hvorfor han ble vellykket og ikke narkolanger, men tar med alt mulig ræl som ikke har noe med dette å gjøre og man ender tidvis opp med å kjede seg og mislike fyren. Heldigvis tar den seg opp ca 2 tredjedeler uti hvor fokuset blir mer på narkopolitikk og forskningen hans på narkotika, som er interessant og bra.

Dette er egentlig to bøker. Denne fyren har masse å melde på narkotikapolitikk, og tar til orde for en vitenskapelig tilnærming. Hvis han noengang skriver en bok som handler om narkopolitikk vil jeg lese den med glede, problemet er bare at han er ræva til å skrive selvbiografi og jeg nå har masse informasjon om ham som ikke interreserer meg.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this eye opening book. In this memoir laced with scientific discovery, Dr. Hart demonstrates a lot of the ideas we have been sold in the war on drugs culture we inhabit. He talks about race and how our views on drugs, the media coverage, and the scientific ignorance about them have all lead to a social construct that devastates communities. In his unique perspective, in which he tackles the role of race in science and drug perceptions based on his personally lived story and his story as a scientist, the reader is able to to see how many myths can be decoded and demonstrated to be false. I did feel that there was an overabundance of bravado in the book. I realize much of it was intentional as the author's point about defending his reputation and having a lot of pride speaks to a motivational factor but at other points it felt like just bragging. When he makes a point to debunk the idea that scientists are "antisocial" (read nerdy), I didn't feel like there was any relevance to his thesis other than letting the reader know that he was very popular, athletic, etc. Aside from this I really enjoyed the format because I love memoir and the science was very methodically inserted into the story being told.

[Bob Gustafson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an autobiography of an African-American who grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Miami and, as a consequence of fortuitous opportunities, peculiar decision-making and athletic and intellectual ability, became a professor of neuroscience at Columbia University. He combines this latter credential with his background to make a statement about the foolishness of the War on Drugs. The book is a pleasant read.

The author was interviewed on Book TV. It was that interview which induced me to purchase the book. My personal views are libertarian/anarchist, so I was prejudiced in favor of the book before I started reading. Now I know there exists at least one neuroscientist who agrees with me.

What is a little bit puzzling is who the author's intended audience is. I am a baby-boomer. I hope that the Generation X and Millenial Generation professional classes will read this book and build their drug laws and law enforcement and rehab procedures with Hart's conclusions in mind. Will they read this book in the first place?

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Hart's persuasively argued memoir delivers. I have been having serious doubts about the "War on Drugs" and I have always been outraged by sentencing disparities. Hart demonstrates that the drug narrative we've been listening to for decades is supported neither by science nor by his own experience growing up in a community disproportionately affected by drug policy. While I did not find his writing style to be as elegant as my mother did (she was in raptures)he wrote competently and accessibly, which is an even greater feat for a neuroscientist writing for the general public. This was the tipping point for me in my view of the criminalization of drugs. Like Hart, I think we need to move toward decriminalizing drugs (yes, even the "hard" ones)long before we can talk about legalizing them. As Hart points out, humans have been finding ways to alter their consciousness since there were humans--a drug-free America is not just unrealistic, the policies put in place to enforce that pipe dream have been devastating.

[Tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really pissed me off. I loved Dr. Hart's segments in The House I Live In, and I was really looking forward to reading this book. I think my views are extremely close to his views, but I felt like he was pushing an agenda too hard. The book felt manipulative to me. It also came across like he was talking down to the reader. I didn't realize that so much of the book was going to be his personal story. Some of his research results seemed too oversimplified, and I wish he had discussed the results more and his personal story less. I thought he made great points about the problems with our criminal justice system, but it seemed like the drug policy he was advocating would not address the racial disparities that he had pointed out that need to be addressed.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved Hart's memoir-cum-drug scientific book. The research here is sound and employs the oft-argued scientific method (will we ever evolve as a species, collectively?) Also, I loved the struggle from the hood to the lab, great inspiration for anyone who starts out in the trailers of sub-continuation public schooling. I related because I too occupied those same trailers when I was a confused adolescent. Now, I teach at an Ivy League school, despite what the naysayers proselytized. From that perspective, I found Dr. Hart to be a kindred spirit.

[Ville Verkkapuro · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect book for me right now. Maybe not a perfect in structure and language otherwise, but I have to give it five stars. So bright and pure.
This tells the story of Carl Hart from early childhood to his life now as a professor and a doctor and a neuroscientist. Going from rough life of a black man in the very racist and problematic United States to the life of a scholar was very inspiring to read. There was not even a slight of bragging, not even humble-bragging, quite the opposite – a lot of shame and loss, about losing connection to roots and
being kicked out of the life you used to own, just because you learned a few new words. And all the while trying to connect to the old self and feeling phony. Very refreshing to read!
I'm writing something similar and this gave me tons of insight while keeping me entertained.
This book read like a memoir, which was necessary, but it wasn't actually just that. It was about something totally else; about drugs and the society. About how drugs are blamed while the real problems are overlooked.
I'm reading this in unison with Gabor Maté and feel like I'm getting a clear picture of addiction and society as a whole. The one's who are hurt the most are being punished the most harshly.
David Foster Wallace said that the life of a true addict is like filling a leaky bucket – it's never-ending, because it's the wrong way to attack the problem. Another metaphor: if there's a knife sticking out of your body there is no use to pull it a few inches back – you have to bandage the wound. The roots of the issues lay somewhere else than in the substance, so don't blame it - and don't blame the groups of people who are dealing with either personal traumas or traumas laid upon them by history and society; talking about POC, about the poor, about sexual minorities, etc.
It's about choices; if you have have multiple paths and an encouraging environment, there's a world of difference. Even lab rats don't seem to be that interested in doing drugs when they have food, activity and friends.
So; the dopamine hypothesis is plain wrong.
Decriminalization is the way as we have seen for example in Portugal. Providing help, not punishing (and forever stigmatizing) the users, especially when dealing with just trace amounts of the substance.
Some familiar, yet necessary stuff; "This is your brain on drugs", the war on drugs, Ronald fucking Reagan and the deeply racist unjust sentences for cocaine and crack cocaine.
This became a very dear book to me very fast. Also the audiobook was exceptionally well-read.
I feel like I'm going to write this exact same thing to the piece I'm working on. Consider it as a sneak peek.

[Sarah Lumos · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Instead, the adults around us saw school as a quest for a certificate, a stamp of approval you could show around later in life. Rather than valuing the process of education itself and the essential critical thinking skills that can be gained from it, they saw school as a means to an end.”

This book really did change my perspective on drugs and society. Since I grew up in a religious family that prohibited drugs and alcohol, I was pretty ignorant about drug addiction. Dr. Hart made me realize that so many of the stereotypes I had about drugs were false. This book is a well-researched and introspective hybrid - a cross between the science, memoir, and sociology genres. After I finished After reading High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society, I was left inspired not just by Hart's commentaries on drugs and society but his personal journey.

How did Hart go from a low-income neighbourhood in Florida to becoming a professor of neuroscience at Columbia University? This was a question that also perplexed him for years, and by writing this book, he hoped to understand why his life turned out so different from some of his peers. He credits most of his success to a logical sequence of events that led him in the right direction: participating in basketball, joining the army, traveling abroad, and positive social influences.

Hart studied addiction because he thought drugs were the bane of black communities. But when he analyzed the data, he realized most of the information perpetuated to us about drugs was false.
Here was an interesting fact I read in this book: 80-90% of people who use drugs do not become addicted to them. The scary stories we hear about on the news or see in documentaries only represents 10-20% of drug users.

When drugs policies are not backed by pharmacological evidence, they do more harm than good. In the long run, our drug policies incarcerate black men at disproportionate levels, even though whites are more likely to sell drugs. If a person acquires a non-violent drug offence than it can make it difficult for them to reintegrate into society. Since our current war on drugs is an epic fail, Hart believes America should try to decriminalize drugs like Portugal did in 2001. After reacting this new law, if authorities caught you with drugs in Portugal, they took you to a healthcare facility instead of a prison. Portugal’s new drug policies were beneficial and actually resulted in drug use dropping for youth 24 and under.

This book contained A LOT of information about drug policy, neuroscience, and pharmacology. While I cannot cover it all in this review, I will say that Dr. Hart is one heck of a human being. It was good to see somebody with a similar upbringing to mine achieve academic success. I am glad Hart used his experiences to advocate for an issue that often makes people uncomfortable. Also, Hart has a stunning grasp on the vernacular. He was able to turn a dry subject like drug policy into something fascinating. If you want to learn more about American drug policies, then this book is a great place to start.

[CatReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Carl Hart (b. 1966) is a tenured professor of psychology at Columbia University who researches drug abuse and addiction. High Price, which is largely a memoir, is his first book; he has since published a follow-up, 2021's Drug Use for Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear.

I have very mixed feelings about High Price. Hart argued throughout that the majority of people who use illicit substances don't use them problematically and that illicit drugs aren't responsible for societal ills. These claims are substantiated repeatedly by anecdotes from Hart's own life (he discussed his own cocaine and marijuana use extensively) and from his extended family's experience, and to a lesser extent by experimental work he's done in his research career, studies that largely center around giving regular drug users the choice between receiving a hit of drug or a small monetary reward in an experimental setting, which does not at all simulate real-world conditions or explore the complex socioeconomic and racial factors that color all of our behavior.

Hart doesn't come off well in the memoir aspects of the book, either. He goes into such extensive detail about his bad and distasteful behavior in his teens and 20s and beyond, written in a bragadocious way that it's like he's reliving his glory days rather than being embarrassed by his past foibles. These include:
- the time he and a group of friends pretended to have a gun and scared the crap out of a stranger they found wandering alone in their neighborhood, and found the whole incident hilarious and awesome (though reflecting on the incident now, he realizes it wasn't cool, but still felt compelled to share it)
- the time he thought studying women's psychology could help him manipulate women into sleeping with him
- the time in his 30s when he found out about a biological son he conceived as a 15-year-old and writes "I'd almost literally been an unwitting sperm donor" (p. 286), as if he hadn't freely chosen to have unprotected sex with the child's mother

My statistics:
Book 321 for 2024
Book 1924 cumulatively

[Isabelle Leventhal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second reading: The material came across like it was definitely by someone in the sciences, who spends a lot of time thinking about the mechanisms that influence human behavior. That being said, still an A+ read. The way he uses the personal to provide anecdotes is effective and reminds me of what Ibram X. Kendi does in how to be an anti racist but with an attention to our racist/classist understandings of behavior, drug abuse, and debunking the myths. A must read for anyone who:

1) provides health and human services
2) is a white person who uses recreational drugs
3) interested in understanding beyond just why the war on drugs is bad but in fact the result of racist propaganda and misinformation

[Lancelot O'Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Great fucking book man. I don't even like drugs, nor was I a proponent for the legalization or use of them (probably because I'm an athlete who doesn't want anything to negatively impact my performance, much like the author in his day); but after reading this and learning about the science, history, and misinformation about drugs in the U.S. I think decriminalization might be a great alternative to help people avoid the vicious cycle that can ruin their lives after getting caught with their first drug charge. The mix of of autobiography and science writing kept me turning the pages without realizing how long I was reading for. I feel like I learned so much, about life, people, cultural capital, critical thinking, science methods, music, consciousness, pharmacology, and more. Definitely recommend and will send to some friends as a gift.

[Casey Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this cause Andrew’s writing a paper on the author and reading the book for it so figured I’d join in too. This topic is something I know little to nothing about so it was a great read and gave me a lot of new and interesting information. I love Dr. Hart’s intertwining of his personal and professional life along with scientific and historical information about drugs was really impressive and beautifully done. This was such an introspective and detailed piece on race, drugs, academia, societal cultures and more and he did a great job of keeping me entertained despite the fact I would probably have never picked up this book on my own.

[Vinícius de Sousa · Rating 5 out of 5]

O livro é bastante autobiográfico. Bastante mesmo! Conta toda a história de vida do autor, desde sua infância e adolescência nos subúrbios até sua vinculação na Universidade da Columbia. Esse aspecto foi positivamente inesperado, pois esperava um livro meramente científico.

Usando sua própria história como exemplo, Carl Hart desmistifica muito do ideário sobre as drogas a partir de sua experiência como neurocientista, além de abordar questões sobre racismo, classe, políticas sociais, etc.

É uma leitura leve e tocante, bastante sensibilizadora.

[Otto Henrique · Rating 3 out of 5]

O que não é surpresa no livro é a analise sobre todo o comportamento contra drogas e os efeitos negativos dela tem muito mais relação com todo o contexto estrutural social (educação, oportunidades, renda, família) do que apenas a química.

O "bacana" é a biografia do autor e como ele mostra a questão racial, que infelizmente é muito forte também nesse contexto. Apesar de todas pesquisas mostrarem como brancos usam ou vendem tanto ou mais quanto os negros, as punições e os efeitos colaterais são imensamente desproporcionais para os negros.

Além disso a biografia é um ponto positivo em si, o autor faz uma relação com o passado e como várias decisões levaram a chegar onde chegou.