Carl Hart

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.

A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society

High Price

Escrito por um dos mais respeitados especialistas no assunto, este livro é um poderoso argumento contra tudo aquilo que nos fazem acreditar sobre as drogas, seus efeitos e danos. Baseado em evidências científicas e experiências pessoais, é também um manifesto pela liberdade de usá-las como parte de uma vida responsável e feliz. Está mais do que na hora de pessoas bem-sucedidas falarem abertamente sobre o uso recreativo de drogas — é o que defende o neurocientista Carl Hart neste livro corajoso e polêmico. Sem esconder sua condição de usuário, em total equilíbrio com uma vida plena e produtiva, ele ilustra os inúmeros benefícios do uso responsável por adultos e argumenta que o maior dano das drogas decorre de sua ilegalidade. Sua demonização e criminalização em países como os Estados Unidos e o Brasil têm sido um flagelo imenso, contribuindo para a discriminação racial, marginalização e mortes. Essa, contudo, nem sempre foi sua visão. Por anos, Hart buscou provar que o uso de drogas é perigoso, até que os resultados de seus estudos não sustentaram mais tal hipótese. Em Drogas para adultos, ele descreve sua luta para convencer outros pesquisadores da área de que atuam sob o véu do preconceito, impedindo a adoção de novos tratamentos e políticas humanas mais saudáveis; e narra sem hipocrisia por que decidiu não mais se calar diante da ideologia moralista e punitiva que cerca o tema. "Pouca ciência e muito preconceito são as doenças infantis do proibicionismo. Hart inverte essa lógica, iluminando de forma genial o debate sobre drogas." — Sidarta Ribeiro

Drogas para adultos

AND THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS . . . I saw a Korean woman walking along the road carrying a bundle of sticks on her back. I thought to myself, “Life is like that.” We all carry around bundles of stories starting from our childhoods and going through the rest of our lives. Some of the stories we have forgotten and others we will never forget. Some of these stories have influenced our lives. Others have had little effect on us. In this book I have pulled from my bundle of stories to share fifty-two of them with an added moral for each one. I have heard many people who would stand and tell their stories, hoping it would help someone else along life’s journey. I hope you will find these stories interesting and the moral of each one helpful. Carl Hart has served as chaplain, pastor, teacher and administrator. He served as the first Director of Chaplaincy for the Department of Corrections in the state of Tennessee. For sixteen years he was on the staff of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, serving the last nine of those years as Director of the Division. He then served as Director of the Chaplaincy Department for Allied Systems, Ltd. His work through the years has taken him and his wife to many parts of the world. He holds a Master of Divinity Degree from Southeastern Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Divinity Degree from Union University.

Carl Hart

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