High Price
Subtitle: a neuroscientist's journey of self-discovery that challenges everything you know about drugs and society
By: Caarl Hart
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Harper
Published: 2013
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 340
ISBN-13: 9780062015884
Copyright date: 2013
Subjects: Drug addicts; Drugs of abuse; Psychology; Social aspects; Drug abuse; Ex-drug addicts; Childhood and youth; Physiological effect; Drug use; Rehabilitation; Biography; Neuroscientists
Description: "As a youth, Carl Hart didn't realize the value of school; he studied just enough to stay on the basketball team. At the same time, he was immersed in street life. Today he is a cutting-edge neuroscientist--Columbia University's first tenured African American professor in the sciences--whose landmark, controversial research is redefining our understanding of addiction. In this provocative and eye-opening memoir, he recalls his journey of self-discovery and weaves his past and present. Hart goes beyond the hype of the antidrug movement as he examines the relationship among drugs, pleasure, choice, and motivation, both in the brain and in society. His findings shed new light on common ideas about race, poverty, and drugs, and explain why current policies are failing. Though Hart escaped neighborhoods that were dominated by entrenched poverty and the knot of problems associated with it, he has not turned his back on his roots. Determined to make a difference, he tirelessly applies his scientific research to help save real lives. But balancing his former street life with his achievements today has not been easy--a struggle he reflects on publicly for the first time. A powerful story of hope and change, of a scientist who has dedicated his life to helping others, High Price will alter the way we think about poverty, race, and addiction--and how we can effect change."--Dust jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.