A university professor has admitted that he regularly uses heroin recreationally and claims that it hasn't negatively affected his life, health, or career.
Carl Hart, a professor of psychology and neuroscience, chairperson at the psychology department of Columbia University, and a published author has spoken about his heroin use at length in a newly-published non-fiction book.
In Drug Use for Grown-ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear, the 54-year-old describes how, in his opinion, heroin and other class A drugs have been unfairly demonized compared with alcohol.
Hart has espoused also the belief that the western world's perspective on drug culture is a way for the white hegemony to prop up structural racism and to protect America's prison industrial complex.
Per The New York Post, the father-of-three stated:
"There aren’t many things in life that I enjoy more than a few lines by the fireplace at the end of the day.
"I pay my taxes, serve as a volunteer in my community on a regular basis and contribute to the global community as an informed and engaged citizen. I am better for my drug use."
Hart went on to state that, although he does enjoy taking heroin and believes he uses the drug responsibly, he admits he does suffer from mild opioid withdrawal symptoms around "12 to 16 hours after the last dose."
However, he has had to deal with the effects of worse withdrawal in the past, and details one memorable experience in his book in which he was overcome with flu-like symptoms, such as chills, vomiting, diarrhea, and a runny nose.
In a recent interview with GQ, Hart spoke further about his drug-taking, and American attitude to hard drug use, stating:
"A large percentage of people who meet criteria for addiction have co-occurring psychiatric illnesses: depression, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, a wide range of other psychiatric illnesses.
"A large percentage of them also have other illnesses. They may be pain patients. So that increases the likelihood of them becoming addicted.
"Another reason is that some people just have not developed responsibility skills. They haven’t developed an ability to exercise inhibitory control. It’s just one of these things that develops over time."
Per Insider, Hart has professed the hope that newly-elected President Joe Biden will take steps to emulate European models of drug rehabilitation programs, and move to gradually decriminalize the use of narcotics.
