Pubdate: Mon, 01 Feb 2021
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Levi Jones

DON'T TRIFLE WITH HARD DRUGS

Regarding Sally Satel's review of "Drug Use For Grown-Ups" by Carl L.
Hart, neuroscientist and professor of psychology at Columbia
University (Bookshelf, Jan. 14): I'm a 44-year-old male who is 15
years into a 25-year sentence for shooting a man four times in a
cocaine deal that went sideways. I've been selling and using drugs
since I was 12 years old. All three of my uncles are dead from
opiate-related deaths. My childhood best friend overdosed from heroin
in 2017. Setting aside the arguments that include freedom of choice
and putting a dent in the profits of drug cartels, I attempt to look
at drugs in a more nuanced way.

However, what keeps nagging me is that in all my experience with this
subject, I have yet to meet one of these "grown-ups" who can manage
weekend, or casual, heroin, crack or crystal-meth use.

In considering this conundrum, I thought, well, Prof. Hart being an
Ivy League college professor, he must bring in a considerable salary.
I wonder if Prof. Hart lost his job today and was left with the
challenges of unemployment, God forbid, if he could put away his
heroin use as a responsible grown-up would do. But if not, how would
he support his habit?

Levi Jones, #130599

Florida Department of Corrections Madison, Fla.
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MAP posted-by: Matt