 Hi, I'm Chris and I'm a recovering drug addict and I just finished the amazing book Drug Use for Grown Ups by Dr. Carl Hart. And as a recovering drug addict, I have a lot of thoughts about this book that we need to talk about. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem but focus on the solution. And if you're new to the channel, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. So yeah, as I mentioned, I just finished Drug Use for Grown Ups by Dr. Carl Hart. I've been waiting for this book for months. I read a ton of books, as many of you know, and this book had me so conflicted that I decided to make a video and discuss it. Alright, so if you're interested in, you know, the drug epidemic in the United States, the scare tactics used by government to get people away from drugs and like the lies that are told, if you care about mental health, like this video is for you because we're going to have a few different conversations. I'm not even sure how long this video is going to be just yet, but I think these are very important conversations to have. So those of you who don't know me, no, I am not a doctor like Dr. Carl Hart. I am a recovering drug addict. I started off with alcohol and my primary substance of choice turned into prescription opioids. I was addicted until I was about 27 years old. I finally got clean after many relapses. It almost killed me. I had about a 10% chance of living due to congestive heart failure. I had a son. I still have a son, but he almost lost his father. So I also worked at a drug and alcohol rehab center for a little over three years, and it was a dual diagnosis facility. So we worked with people with mental health issues. So that's a little bit of my background and where I'm coming from. So something else before diving into talking about this book, I think that it's important to know is that first off, I love the book. I was first introduced to Dr. Carl Hart. I think on Bill Nye's series about science on Netflix and they had a episode about addiction. I think that's the first time I heard of him. I might be completely wrong, but anyways, yeah, he is a drug use advocate and he's also a researcher. So he's actually looking into the real effects, which is something that I believe that we need because something you should know about me is although I have not had a single drug or a single drink in over eight years, I am pro drug legalization. I am pro decriminalization. And I even voted to legalize marijuana here in my home state of Nevada. All right, so I'm not one of those people who was like, you know, I had to get clean so everybody gets clean. That'd be like if I was allergic to peanuts and I said nobody should be allowed to eat peanuts. You know what I mean? So I also realized that we have a lot of systemic issues around substances. There are a lot of racism issues when it comes to substances. I feel that we are criminalizing people who have a sickness and I believe that we should be treating them rather than locking them up in jail. All right, there is a very complex and nuanced conversation, but just let you know where I stand. All right, so I want to bring up some points that he made that Dr. Karl Hart made in his book that I don't think he presented enough counter arguments or counter evidence to which is perfectly fine. It's his book. He is trying to get a message across. I think he did a great job doing it. But as somebody who is, I wouldn't even say I'm on the other side of the argument, but I'm, you know, in the middle of the argument, I thought it'd be important to bring up some other topics and other counters to some things that he brought up. All right, so I think it's very clear to understand as we get into this discussion about the book is that Dr. Karl Hart and I are seeing the world through completely different lenses. All right, he is a recreational drug user who is safe and responsible and not only that, but he is doing research about the topic. He is also giving talks and, you know, educating people and all that stuff. But the lens that I'm seeing the world through is that substances almost killed me. They almost took my son's father away. I caused a lot of pain and heartbreak to my friends and family. I worked at a treatment center for a little over three years. It was a large facility. And, you know, in that time I worked with thousands of addicts. So I think it's important when you're looking at any debate or discussion to know what lens people are seeing the world through, right? Because if I was to argue against myself, I'd be like, Chris, you might be succumbing to the availability heuristic, which is where we think that there's more of something just because we're in front of it all the time, right? So I, working at a drug treatment center, I was only seeing drug addicts. So my brain might be biased in thinking that, you know, there's more of a problem than there actually is. But in order to counter that, I do a lot of research and looking at statistics and things like that, which we'll talk about in just a minute. So the first topic that we're going to talk about is mental illness. So one of the arguments that Dr. Carl Hart has throughout the book is that many people who develop addictions or end up overdosing, like you can see that they had a history of mental illness, whether it's severe depression, you know, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, definitely one of them, people with borderline personality disorder, they are more likely to abuse substances and everything like that. So one of his arguments is that, you know, if you are mentally healthy, you should be able to use substances. And to an extent, I agree, like, statistically, most people who become addicts have co-occurring disorders, they have an underlying mental illness, whether it's depression, anxiety, trauma, whatever it is, right? But when we're talking about this, I think we need to zoom out and take a look at the bigger picture, right? So according to the CDC and little note, this CDC stat that I'm taking about mental health statistics was in June of last year, I believe, all right? So I'm not sure how much of this data was collected pre-pandemic because as a lot of us know, a lot of issues happen because of the pandemic. Anyways, according to the CDC, approximately 31% of people have symptoms of anxiety or depression, 26% of people have trauma or stress or related, stress or related disorder symptoms, 13% had increased substance use, and 11% of people seriously considered suicide. Okay? So yes, I agree with Dr. Carl Hart that we have to take into consideration that people with substance abuse issues also have mental illnesses, but we have to realize that there are a lot of people out there with mental illnesses, right? Because I can tell you from firsthand experience that I was self-medicating, right? I can tell you, and by the way, if any of you are recovering addicts or you have any experience with this, friends, family, whatever, feel free to leave comments, you know, down below and let me know your thoughts and everything. Feel free to weigh in on this discussion because I think it's important that we have these discussions. But anyways, I was self-medicating. I know a lot of people are self-medicating, so I think that's important that we discuss this. Trauma is a huge one. Trauma is huge. So according to the US Department of Veteran Affairs, okay, and this isn't just specifically for veterans. This research is for just PTSD and adults as a whole. And it says about seven or eight out of every 100 people at some point in their life will have PTSD, all right? So that's seven to eight percent of the population, okay? So think about that. Like, when I was working in treatment, I, like, I hate how people demonize drug addicts. I'm like, do you know how many of these people suffer from trauma? They were, you know, victims of childhood abuse, you know, in different forms, verbal, physical, sexual, all these other things, you know? So we have to take that into consideration when we're talking about, you know, legalizing and, you know, regulating drugs and, you know, like, what would the vetting process be, right? Do you have to go through a psychiatric evaluation and all that kind of stuff, all right? So the next thing is Dr. Karl Hart talked about in Switzerland. They had this great setup. Like, I love it. This is the first time I've heard of it. But anyways, they're a little bit more lenient on their substance abuse policies, but, like, they know that increased risk of substance abuse comes from mental illness, poverty, lack of like sustained work and things like that. So that's definitely a part of it, right? Yohan Hari, who, you know, there's some debate around his talks around drug use and everything is, you know, he talks about how people who lack work and purpose and everything like that are more likely to become addicted. So when we talk about poverty, yeah, I get it. But I think it's important to realize when we're saying, yeah, people who are impoverished are more likely to abuse substances. Looking at this conversation through the lens of somebody here in the United States, we have a massive, massive issue with wealth inequality. Due to the pandemic, we have a huge problem with unemployment, right? So when we're saying, look, people in poverty are more likely to abuse substances, we have to also realize that there are a lot of people who are not financially secure, right? I have been fortunate enough to finally at 35 years old be able to save up some money and, you know, have some money in savings. I'm finally learning what the heck investing is and stuff. And I'm 35 years old, right? Before that, no money in savings paycheck to paycheck for most of my life, right? And some of that was due to my drug addiction. But, you know, in the past eight years, I'm finally getting my life together. Like they say, you know, all these books I'm reading online, you know, finances and everything they say that you should have three to six months or even a year saved for your living expenses in an emergency fund. How many of you can do that? I think the statistic that people have to point to is most people couldn't even come up with like three or $400 in the case of emergency. So when we're saying that, you know, poverty is a factor in substance abuse, we have to realize how many people are struggling financially. All right. So the next subject that Dr. Karl Hart brings up is that most overdoses and deaths come from combining substances. So, you know, Xanax, for example, you're not necessarily going to overdose on a benzodiazepine, but you mix it with alcohol or opioids or something like that, you can overdose. So he talks about how like most people who overdose isn't just substances. And trust me, Dr. Karl Hart brings up a lot, a lot of great arguments about how legalization would bring about proper testing. For example, the marijuana industry is highly regulated. All right. And they're constantly looking at it. And now that it's, you know, being regulated by states, it's not federally legal yet. There's testing procedures that go into the process. So when you're buying substances on the street, you don't know if it's laced with fentanyl or another substance, right? So yes, the combination of these substances can be an issue. So one thing, one thing, as a recovering drug addict, I can tell you that I did disagree with was, I don't have the exact quote in front of me, but in Dr. Karl's Hart's book, he says that, you know, ignorance plays a big part in overdoses because people are combining substances. And I don't think that's true. I disagree with that because he's basically saying that if we only knew, if us drug addicts only knew that combining the substances were dangerous, we wouldn't do it. And that's just false. When you are an addict, when you're trying to numb yourself, when you're trying to escape, right? The three reasons us drug users use is to get a feeling, to get rid of a feeling or to have an escape. We do it in whatever means necessary. Like I combined opioids and alcohol, not because I didn't think it was going to kill me, but because I didn't care, right? The internal struggle of the mental health issues I was struggling with, I didn't care about combining these substances. When I worked in treatment, I asked a lot of people, I'm like, you know, how many of you didn't know that this was dangerous and people just laugh. It's a joke. Like we know, but when your goal is to get messed up, you don't care. So I disagree. I don't think ignorance is the problem. Most of us know that combining substances does increase danger. Like I got sober with people who were doing heroin to come down from meth. You know what I mean? Like most people who use substances use more than one substance. So I think that's an issue that needs to be addressed when we're talking about this. Because here's the other thing that Dr. Cola Hart didn't really bring up. It's that we can't even trust doctors. So it's really interesting because while reading Dr. Cola Hart's book, I also read the book, the new book called Bad Medicine by Charlotte Bismuth. She is a former prosecutor and she helped bring down Dr. Stan Lee in New York who was a doctor running a pill mill, right? People come in and if you're in any area where the opioid crisis is an issue, you know a lot of doctors were profiting off of people like me and our addictions. And this doctor was prescribing oxycodone, benzodiazepines, and other medications. So to say that combining substances is dangerous, but we can't even trust doctors not to give you these, right? And I'm going to come to a possible solution for this later, but we can't trust doctors like we need to, we need to realize that. So I think that is a major, major problem that I don't know if we have an answer for because a lot of people just don't care, you know what I mean? And a doctor could say, you know, hey, only use this much with this much. But when you have these doctors who are just trying to turn a profit, it's kind of an issue because they know that they're feeding it, they're feeding addicts, you know, because they're just trying to make money like any other drug dealer, all right? So I guess the last question is, what's the solution? Because like I said, I believe we need to have these conversations. And like, when I finally sat down, I'm like, I could talk to Dr. Calard for hours and just bounce ideas and have the conversation. But anyways, I think it's important to talk about like his, his core, his core thesis is this. It's that responsible, healthy grownups should be able to use substances and make their own decisions. I agree. Like I agree, right? And yeah, because like we talked about better mental health means less likely have substance abuse issues. If you're not in poverty, cool, better, you know, better chances that you won't become addicted to substances. So here's the problem. Like even when I think about, you know, doctors combining substances is there's a fallacy known as the no true Scotsman fallacy, right? Where basically, you know, I forgot the origin of it, but you're like, oh, this Scotsman like it says, you know, no Scotsman ever eats this. And then the guy is like, well, I'm Scottish and I eat this. You say, well, no true Scotsman would eat that, right? And we could do that. Like think about like political parties, like, you know, no true Democrat would do that. So you're automatically excluding anybody who crosses this line. Or when Christians, you know, when they when you're saying, well, look at what these other Christians are doing and say, oh, well, they're not a real Christian. So what I'm saying is, I'm curious with Dr. Carl Hart's argument that healthy, responsible adults should be able to use drugs. Will it become a victim to the no true Scotsman fallacy by anybody who develops a substance abuse issue? Or we're going to cherry pick and say, Oh, well, they're not making that much money. So they weren't a responsible healthy adult or Oh, this person had depression in this time, they had some symptoms. So they're not really a healthy responsible adult. I hope that makes sense because I can see that happening. So I'd be curious where these lines would be drawn. And like I mentioned earlier, what is it? This is a psycho is a psychological evaluation. Do we make sure that they have a certain amount of money? If the person loses their job, are they no longer to record, no longer allowed to recreationally use substances because job loss can lead to depression, which can lead to substance abuse, you'd know what I mean. So there's a lot of conversations to be having had there. Next thing is like, like, man, it bumps me out. Here's the two drugs that bought me out that aren't legalized marijuana and psychedelics as a mental health advocate. These are extremely helpful, extremely helpful. And the chances of them causing any adverse effects are so minimal, especially when alcohol is completely legal. So I do believe and this is why I love the work of people like Dr. Carl Hart and many others is that we need, we need to start legalizing things like psychedelics and marijuana. But on top of that, we need better mental health care, especially here in the United States. Dr. Carl Hart did a great job talking about more global issues and how different countries are handling, you know, drug use and mental health and all that other kind of stuff. But speaking, you know, as somebody from the United States, mental health care sucks. It absolutely sucks. All right. So as I mentioned earlier with the rates of mental illness constantly on the increase and mental illness being a leading cause of substance abuse, we need better mental health care. But I do think a good place to start is by realizing that substances like certain psychedelics under certain conditions while being monitored can be very beneficial. Like there are so many studies that like psilocybin or MDMA can be helpful for like people with PTSD, like veterans, right? Dr. Carl Hart recently did a stream with the comedian Neil Brennan. And I remember watching Neil Brennan's stand-up special where he mentioned ketamine treatment for depression. And I was like, ketamine, right? And I did some research and I looked into it. And yeah, I think in a controlled environment, ketamine can be very beneficial. So there's this kind of combination of like, you know, substances or pharmaceuticals for mental health care, but also like therapy, right? Because as someone who's really started reading a lot about cognitive psychology and the thinking errors that we get into and all these other psychological issues, I think that I think that whenever you're taking anything, any kind of medication, it should always be in combination with therapy, with talking to a human being. Because too often from my experience, I think that we expect just we should be able to take something and it fixes all of our problems. All right. But anyways, yeah, like I'm glad I got to make this video. There's a lot I fully 1000% agree with in Dr. Carl Hart's book. And I didn't even get to touch on so many different topics that he covers. So make sure you pick up a copy of his book. I'm going to use my affiliate link for Amazon down below if you want to pick up a copy. And what that means a little bit comes back to the channel, if you were to pick him the copy of the book, but I would love for more people to read it. Like I said, like, I don't think this is a black and white issue. Like there are so few issues that are black and white. There's so much gray areas. And I think too often you find people on extremes on one side or the other, like really pro drugs or really anti drugs. And I don't think it's either or I think we need to have conversations and discuss, you know, possibilities and things that we need to take into consideration. But as I mentioned, I feel that there are currently a lot of systemic issues, especially in the United States, I'm not sure about other parts of the country, but especially in the United States, that we really need to address to start moving towards a place where we can safely give, be like, Hey, you're a grown up, do whatever drugs you want. You know what I mean? But like I said, I would love to know your thoughts. Again, this is through the lens of a recovering drug addict who worked in mental health and addiction treatment. So I would love to know your thoughts down in the comments below. And yeah, I'm going to talk to Dr. Carl Hart, see if he wants to have a conversation sometimes discuss some of this stuff and maybe some other stuff, you know what I mean, because I know there's only so much he could address in this book, there's only so much I could address in this 20 something minute YouTube video. All right, but anyways, I've been talking way too much. So anyways, if you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell and a huge thank you to everybody who sports the channel, whether it's over on Patreon or using my affiliate links to get the books that I recommend, or anything else you do to support the channel, even if you're just following me on social media, you're amazing. All right. Thanks again for watching. I'll see you next time.