Carl Hart is Mamie Phipps Clark Professor of Psychology at Columbia University, where he researches the behavioral and neuropharmacological effects of psychoactive drugs in humans. In this wide-ranging conversation, Robinson and Carl discuss drugs from many different angles, touching on the neuroscience of addiction, the opioid crisis, drugs’ connections to poverty, the roles they can play in a creative life, and more. Carl’s most recent book is Drug Use for Grown-Ups (2021, Penguin).

Drug Use for Grown-Ups: https://a.co/d/efgXuJK

OUTLINE

00:00:49 Introduction

00:03:14 What Is a Drug?

00:14:58 DARE and Drug Education

00:26:07 Rodrigo Duterte and the Drug War in the Philippines

00:39:25 Studying Drugs in the Lab

00:49:07 Does Addiction Change the Brain?

00:58:12 On the Opioid Crisis

01:10:42 How Should We Solve the Opioid Crisis?

01:14:01 What Is the Connection Between Drugs and Poverty?

01:18:21 How Do Drugs Affect the Brain?

01:28:27 How Can Drugs Improve Your Creativity?

01:36:04 Should Science Inform Drug Policy?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where is also a student in the Law School.