Library Journal
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[STARRED] Hart (neuropsychopharmacologist, Columbia Univ., research scientist, New York State Psychiatric Inst. Div. of Substance Abuse) presents a refreshing new analysis of drug use that reveals how common misconceptions about illegal drugs are far too often not based on empirical evidence. Hart blends his own story of experimentation with drugs as a teenager with his insights into the relationship between drugs and pleasure, factors that motivate the use of drugs, and the power of choice. He also reveals new ideas regarding the common association of racial characteristics with drug abuse, the impact of poverty on the use of drugs, and an important, new understanding of why current national drug abuse policies continue to fail. His relatively surprising research results reveal how incorrect common warnings are about how drug abuse can ruin a person¡s life. Drawing on his successful rise out of poverty and drug abuse in his dysfunctional family, Hart directed much of his research into how some drug users have managed to succeed in life, supporting his view that much of what is now being done in current drug education, treatment, and policy is inconsistent with scientific research results. VERDICT Hart manages to add to the voluminous drug abuse genre a radically new approach that is thought-provoking and that will certainly stimulate controversial opinions, especially among the drug abuse treatment profession. He succeeds in presenting a blend of personal memoir with a critical analysis of why drugs and drug users are often shunned, the role racial policies have played in this perception, and how these misperceptions have resulted in current drug fighting approaches that he views as counterproductive. Hart¡s experience adds credibility to this important work on substance abuse that is essential for all university libraries supporting treatment curriculum and treatment professionals.-Dale Farris, Groves, TX (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
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A hard-hitting attack on current drug policy by Hart (Psychology and Psychiatry/Columbia Univ.), a neuroscientist who grew up on the streets of one of Miami's toughest neighborhoods. "[W]e have been bamboozled," he writes, "to believe that cocaine, heroine, methamphetamine or some other drug du jour is so dangerous that any possession or use of it should not be tolerated and deserves to be severely punished." Hart debunks claims that the use of crack cocaine is more dangerous than other forms of the drug and therefore should be punished more severely--a distinction that penalizes ghetto users who are the most typical crack users. Offering experimental data and his own personal experiences, he takes issue with the idea that addiction is strictly biological rather than a complex combination of cultural, social and psychological facts. Initially accepting prevailing notions about addiction, his own research over two decades convinced him that only 15 percent of frequent drug users are addicted. Reflecting on his experiences growing up in the ghetto, Hart realized that social environment was as important as the availability of street drugs. His own remarkable path to success included a large component of good luck. Since he hoped to become a professional athlete, he didn't drop out of high school, as did many of his friends, and he moderated his use of alcohol and drugs. When he failed to win an athletic scholarship, he joined the military. Although he was involved in criminal street activity, Hart was fortunate in avoiding arrest and a criminal record that would have disqualified him from the military and the track to higher education. In his view, the focus on illegal drug trafficking "obfuscates the real problems faced by marginalized people," and neuroscientific research focuses too much on the action of neurotransmitters to explain addiction. An eye-opening, absorbing, complex story of scientific achievement in the face of overwhelming odds.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
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Combining memoir, popular science, and public policy, Hart's study lambasts current drug laws as draconian and repressive, arguing that they're based more on assumptions about race and class than on a real understanding of the physiological and societal effects of drugs. Growing up in a poor, predominantly African-American neighborhood in Miami in the 1970s and '80s, Hart, now a Columbia University neuroscientist, was rarely encouraged to excel academically, and he was too often witness to institutional racism and violence in his own community. Still, despite its deprivations, this background also gave Hart certain advantages later in life, such as a more empathetic relationship with the subjects of his studies on the effects of crack cocaine and other drugs and a more realistic view of what role such drugs actually play in society. Central to his work is the idea that addiction is actually a combination of physiological and social factors, and the use of drugs does not itself lead to violence and crime. Drug laws, he argues, place minorities into a "vicious cycle of incarceration and isolation," and the most rational policy choice would be decriminalization of all such substances. His is a provocative clarion call for students of sociology and policy-makers alike. Photos. Agent: Marc Gerald and Sasha Raskin, the Agency Group. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.