George Bernard Shaw once said, ¨Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.¨ A few thoughts from Carl Hart that I really took home was ¨educational opportunities are too often missed,¨ and that people should call out false information when they hear it. Carl Hart talked about the over exaggeration of drugs, along with the concept that people need to be educated and are encouraged to call out someone if they hear false information. Education is one of the most important aspects of humankind, I think, and I believe Hart would agree with me. The three main points Hart talked about was, drugs are not the problem, we have exaggerated the harmful effects of drugs, and meth does not cause brain damage and cognitive impairment.
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Hart brings up that the literature related to this issue never states the normative data when saying that meth users have impaired cognitive functions. Wanting to know the truth, Hart reviewed the article, “Is Cognitive Functioning Impaired in Methamphetamine Users?”. After Hart’s review, he concluded that cognitive functioning in meth users is overwhelmingly normal when compared against normative data. Hart goes on to question what his role is as a scientist. He also considers who funds his research and who funds other scientists’ research. The National Institute on Drug Abuse funds about 90% of all research on drug abuse. The NIDA’s mission is to lead the nation in research in drug abuse and drug addiction. They only want to focus on the negative effects of drugs. This statement helped create a setting where drugs are seen as evil and any use of drugs is evil. This setting of how drugs are perceived influences what gets published in scientific literature, textbooks, and the press, and how the public understands drug effects. Another question Hart brings up is, “Why is the public constantly misled?”. Hart explains that drug effects are constantly deceived because it increases the budgets of law enforcement, treatment providers, politicians, the media, and scientists, or what he likes to call the “addiction industry participants.” In addition, Hart explains that accepting to be misled about drugs allows people to avoid dealing with real problems of the poor, such as unemployment, substandard education, and poor nutrition. It is easier to focus on the distractions in the world rather than focus on the more important and harder issues. Lastly, Hart introduces the fact that drug policy and enforcement has been racialized throughout history. He starts off by showing an article published in 1914 that states that murder and insanity was increased among blacks that took cocaine. The
Hart brings up that the literature related to this issue never states the normative data when saying that meth users have impaired cognitive functions. Wanting to know the truth, Hart reviewed the article, “Is Cognitive Functioning Impaired in Methamphetamine Users?”. After Hart’s review, he concluded that cognitive functioning in meth users is overwhelmingly normal when compared against normative data. Hart goes on to question what his role is as a scientist. He also considers who funds his research and who funds other scientists’ research. The National Institute on Drug Abuse funds about 90% of all research on drug abuse. The NIDA’s mission is to lead the nation in research in drug abuse and drug addiction. They only want to focus on the negative effects of drugs. This statement helped create a setting where drugs are seen as evil and any use of drugs is evil. This setting of how drugs are perceived influences what gets published in scientific literature, textbooks, and the press, and how the public understands drug effects. Another question Hart brings up is, “Why is the public constantly misled?”. Hart explains that drug effects are constantly deceived because it increases the budgets of law enforcement, treatment providers, politicians, the media, and scientists, or what he likes to call the “addiction industry participants.” In addition, Hart explains that accepting to be misled about drugs allows people to avoid dealing with real problems of the poor, such as unemployment, substandard education, and poor nutrition. It is easier to focus on the distractions in the world rather than focus on the more important and harder issues. Lastly, Hart introduces the fact that drug policy and enforcement has been racialized throughout history. He starts off by showing an article published in 1914 that states that murder and insanity was increased among blacks that took cocaine. The