A professor of psychology and neuroscience at Columbia University in New York who supports decriminalizing drugs recently wrote a book detailing how he has taken small doses of hard drugs such as heroin.
Carl Hart, 54, who chairs the psychology department at Columbia, writes about his drug experiences in his new book “Drug Use for Grown-ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear” according to the New York Post.
Despite experiencing withdrawal symptoms “12 to 16 hours after the last dose,” Hart still maintains there are upsides to taking such substances.
“There aren’t many things in life that I enjoy more than a few lines by the fireplace at the end of the day,” Hart wrote about heroin, which he said leaves him “refreshed” and “prepared to face another day.”
“My heroin use is as recreational as my alcohol use,” Hart further said. “Like vacation, sex, and the arts, heroin is one of the tools that I use to maintain my work-life balance.”
Hart has also taken MDMA or ecstasy, which he said gives him “intense feelings of pleasure, gratitude and energy.”
“When I’m rolling, I just want to breathe deeply and enjoy it,” he added. “The simple act of breathing can be extremely pleasurable.”
Other drugs he has experimented with include methamphetamine and “bath salts,” which he described as “unequivocally wonderful” which make him feel “euphoric, energetic, clearheaded and highly social … niiiiiice.”
Hart said during an interview with Insider that his family supports his drug use: “The most important thing we have emphasized as parents is: Just try and live like the person that you think you are — a moral, compassionate, global citizen. My family would expect me to stand up on behalf of the people who have been castigated” for their drug usage.
Hart admitted his drug use because he wants to advocate for decriminalizing the possession of recreational drugs. His book argues “that the demonization of drug use – not drugs themselves – [has] been a tremendous scourge on America, not least in reinforcing this country’s enduring structural racism,” according to the publisher.
Efforts to decriminalize drugs have gained momentum in the U.S. As The Daily Wire reported:
The U.S. House of Representatives voted to decriminalize marijuana on Friday, passing a bill that would remove the drug from the list of federally controlled substances, expunge federal pot-related convictions for lower-level offenses, and allow for the regulation of legal cannabis sales.
The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act was approved mostly along party lines by a vote of 228 to 164. Only five Republicans supported the bill, while just six Democrats opposed it. The proposal now advances to the Senate, where it is not expected to pass.
Several Democrats who supported the legislation said it would help correct failed, decades-old, selectively-enforced drug laws that have unfairly impacted people of color.
Related: House Passes Bill To Decriminalize Marijuana As More States Loosen Pot Restrictions