not to be involved in any sort of controversial acts or -- so in the end i ended up doing nothing. but those kind of things happen. and i have many more stories i didn't share in the book because i didn't want to bore the reader because you all know these stories, but that's why. >> well, you ended the chapter which you call requested "still just a nigger." it infuriated me. but that's when i realized my son would soon face a world where even in the most clear cut situation someone with our skin tone could still be seen as a crackhead just because he dressed a certain way or to use the language of an earlier wave of drug hysteria, a negro cocaine fiend. ..

to formulate these policies and they are having the same attitudes that could see you as potentially a bank robber and wanting you to go through a line up. it is unsettling to think that people may have those attitudes who are the same people who formulated policy. doing the research on which the policies are being based, it is scary. >> it is scary but i hope it is not a revelation to anyone because if it is you are in trouble in this country. i think one of the reasons i

wrote "high price" was voices like mine are not in the discussion on drug policy. when i say voices like mine, there are few people in the country who have the experience with drugs that i do. but in science, there aren't people who look like me, certainly not the experience i had and scientists in general are conservative people, they don't speak out on these issues. they don't speak out on these issues for a wide range of reasons. number one, their boys, their children because they are white won't be subjected to the same things my kids will be. that is one. 2, if we continue our current approach with drugs, the notion

guided by this notion drugs are so awful it helps to increase our budget in science. that provides further motivation for them not to speak out so in this book i described science about how you have been misled and i describe this personal sort of story. i really hope that the people read the book carefully and if you do that and we have this movement i think things will change but the change will come from you, not scientists when we had slavery, i don't think the slave owners were the ones saying we need to get rid of slavery. it is the same situation, folks. >> you said the most important

discoveries come questioning seemingly axiomatic assumptions. when did you begin to question conventional wisdom about crack and its impact? >> in 1996 i was at the university of wyoming library doing some sort of research, trying to to prepare for my dissertation, i came across an article written in 1914 in the new york times called negro cocaine fiend's our new southern madness. in this article this article had been cited by a current scientific paper. in this article, the author describes how cocaine made black people and affected by bullets so you had to increase, they were unaffected by 32 caliber bullets so you had to increase the caliber of your bullets to

38 caliber bullets if you want to stop a black cocaine user. cocaine made black people better marksmen so they could shoot more sharply. that is bad when cocaine made them more murderous as the author argued. as i started conlan as i read articles like this more carefully and look at what we had been saying about crack cocaine in nearly 1980s and 1990s it was the same thing. we were saying the same thing accept the language had been tampered. i started to think more critically, started to read in a way that would challenge some of the assumption the authors were making. i learned that the vast majority of people who use all these drugs don't have a problem yet we act like the drugs are the

problem. i learned if you provide people laboratory animals with alternatives to the drug they almost always take the alternative as opposed to the drug. that told me the drug was not missing. i've learned many of the effects when we start, when we think about the cognitive effects of the brain, a fact of these drugs, i learned many of the claims that are made in the author's's discussion's inclusions are inconsistent with the actual data that they just published. and as i started to think of these things more critically, now i try to think about my life in the same way and the people i care in the same way. high price will be an invitation for people to learn to think

critically as well. i want to point to one image that still sticks with me. back in the day when crack was the man as we were told, it was the thing for prominent people, celebrities to be seen going to hell house to hold the crack baby and we being told our community was being devastated by crack and the whole generation of children were being destroyed by crack. in your book you seem to say that was one of those myths. can you explain that? >> i am not the only one that says that. even the new york times has published two major pieces. one of them was entitled the epidemic that wasn't. the notion of this crack baby thing was not supported by any

evidence. if you look at scientific literature, people who are saying that it is, that is pretty clear. i am not saying pregnant mothers should use crack cocaine, not saying that at all. the affects we saw from using cocaine doing pregnancy were comparable to the effect of a mother who smoked tobacco cigarettes. that is what i am saying. when you look at the data they look the same and when we look at the long-term effect on these children they are here. they are you, they are here, we were warned, we got all these dire warnings about our schools would not be able to handle the cognitive impairment as weaver going to see from these predators' that were being born. none of that came to bear. this is what we were told.

that is one of the myths that helped to drive the creation of this policy that punishes crack cocaine 100 times more harshly than powder cocaine. one of the myth that has contributed to the large incarceration rate of black men in this country, and in "high price" i'm trying to explain how we can change that. >> you use your own experiences and that of family members and friends to make the points you are making now. let's talk about some of those suggestions that you have because that is where some people take issue with you. >> that put it nicely. >> trying to be nice.

you are advocating education about drugs and for some people, the same reaction they have about educating kids about sex, how do you first get into the specifics, how do you deal with the mindset that says you can't indicate about drugs. or you put people in jail but candy educate people about jugs--drugs. how do you deal with those people? >> i would like to say i am a person who has no time for disingenuous people and stupid people. [applause] >> if you are ignorant, that is okay but if you are obstinately ignorant i have no time for you. my conversation is for people who are genuinely concerned about the problems which we

face. to answer the question how do i deal with it? first of all, i have to have people understand when we think about drugs, particularly illegal drugs if we look at illegal drugs they are the same drugs in medicine to treat various conditions. think about methamphetamines. it is the same drug as the drug we used to treat attention deficit disorder. that tells the thinking person that these drugs can't be used safely under some conditions and so we think about apps. it is the same drug as morphine. we use morphine to help people in chronic pain. now you have engaged a person at a level in which they can understand and hopefully they are open and you can make some progress. now we talk about specifics for each drove. we tell people okay, young

people for example are using marijuana, and of course we don't want people to engage in behavior is that are illegal, let's just say we know and we are not stupid and we know that people engage in behavior as they sometimes should not engage or they engage in illegal behavior just like when we have a speeding limit in our cars people exceed the speed limit even though it is dangerous but we try to keep them safe by asking people to put on their seat belts and do a number of things. we can do the same with drugs like marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines. in "high price" i delineate some things we can do like alcohol. we have a considerable amount of information about how to keep people safe with alcohol. the same thing, we can do it with cocaine. in fact you don't need me to do

this but people are doing it better. 90% of people using these drugs do so without a problem they are already doing it. i am proposing that we have this education be even better and more widely available and can decrease even more of the potential harms. >> when do you begin this education? >> if you are a student at columbia and take my class you get this education. or if you are in my house you get this education from the time you are able to walk and talk. it is just like any other education. it is not -- drugs are not special in my household. my sort of main focus in my household is my children are expected to have to -- expected to achieve a certain amount of

success in life. they are expected to go to college and do these kinds of things. anything that impedes or disrupts their ability to do that we have a problem. whether it is driving the car too fast, playing video games, smoking marijuana. this particular education is not limited to marijuana or some drug, it is -- it encompasses everything and so anything that disrupts their ability to succeed or their ability to achieve the expectation that we have, we have to talk about it and provide education. it is no longer disrupting their ability to do that. >> let's look at specifics. first you want to educate inexperienced drug users so they

know how to use proper amounts of drugs. >> that is right. in the book title story. i had just gotten out of the military in which i hadn't smoked marijuana in a while and i met two women and you always get in trouble with women. i am joking. that is a joke. actually in the book the main point is the women in my life kept me out of trouble but in this particular case we were smoking marijuana and i was naive and i tried to be macho and i smoked too much. i got really paranoid and have that experience. if i had the proper amount of education, i was an inexperienced user, being an inexperienced user i should not have been behaving in like i was

experience that had tolerance. i should have started out with extremely low doses and only taken a small amount. i should have also -- i didn't say this but i did not know these women particularly well. i should have also not smoked with people i didn't know well because i had all of these sort of suspicions about their motivations which were not true but had my suspicions and so all of this sort of -- all of these factors contributed to having a bad experience. in the book i am explaining, inexperienced users should start with low doses. also don't take these illegal substances in environments in which you are uncomfortable or with people with whom you are uncomfortable. so there are some practical things that i lay out. >> i am trying to envision this, having this practical conversation with your son about

how to margin late -- modulate your level of drug intake. it wouldn't work in my household. >> you said it wouldn't work in your household. i don't know. that is beyond drugs now. this is where you have, this is where parenting, people have to parent. you have to talk to your children about all the potential things they will face in life and if this is one in which you are not able to talk to them about, that says more about your relationship with your children more so than about drugs. this is not about drugs. if you can't talk about drugs maybe you can't talk about sex. maybe you can't talk about homosexuality. maybe you can't do a number of things so i would encourage people to be better parents. >> i encourage that part too. the second thing you suggest

here is helping people to prepare their bodies in a way. you say healthy speech -- sleep habits should be stressed for all drug use is. why do we want them to sleep well? >> one of the things that i know from having a position in medical school is there are a few things we can do to increase our productivity and health and longevity. sleep well, eat well and exercise and laugh. if you do those things you are on the path to a more healthy life. in this particular incident you are describing i am talking mainly about amphetamines. one of the things amphetamines' do, methamphetamines, all of these drugs, they keep people awake when they should be sleeping. i encourage -- i urge amphetamine users to make sure that if they are using the drug, don't use it in your sleep time and make sure they get the

proper amount of sleep because chronic sleep losses associated with things like psychopathology, various medical conditions like certain types of cancers, wide range of deleterious effects on health. i am encouraging folks to take stimulants or drugs that keep you awake, make sure you get your sleep. that is just common sense. >> the third thing you advocate is educating people about the combinations of drugs. certain drug combinations should be avoided did some people would say drugs should be avoided but now we focus on combinations of drugs that should be avoided. >> some of you may have been paying attention. the actor from the league -- bleak --glee died earlier this

week or last week. the autopsy report came out earlier this week. the autopsy reports that he died from a combination of apps and alcohol. we vilify heroin. one of the things i learned in my education is 75% of people who die from heroin die from combining it with something else, usually alcohol. three quarters dying from this combination, not heroin alone. it is possible but it is rare. given that that is the case i am encouraging people if you are going to use heroin, please avoid combining it with another sensitive like alcohol because that increases the likelihood of

you having respiratory depression and dying. so it seems to make sense given that the overwhelming majority die from this combination and not heroin alone. our focus should not be on heroin but this combination. when it is not we are missing this important public health education opportunity. >> the way the story is going on with the actor is that apps is bad and it should be avoided and there is no cure and there is no talking about how to use heroin with something else. there was an article in the times yesterday about apps use in new england. >> i want to say something about apps should be avoided. exceeding the speed limit should be avoided.

having unprotected sex with people you don't know should be avoided. a wide range of behaviors should be avoided which we engage in. each year in this country hundreds of thousands of people use heroin. these numbers have been this way for multiple decades. the point is a heroin use is not going away. that is a fact. even if you don't use it or understand why people will use the drug is not going away. given that it is not going away just like exceeding the speed limit is not going away, just like premarital sex is not going away, given that it is not going away, me being a scientist concerned with health and those sorts of things my question is how do you keep people safe? my goal is to reduce the harm associated with heroin use. >> i hear you but are also here those from the amen quarter

saying no, no, no. you quote from a former professor and mentor who said once you know, you cannot not know. then you say there was a period in my life when i was unaware of the forces preventing tobias, your son, and people like him from legitimately competing in mainstream society. that time is past. i have come to understand that the game is fixed against them. in your advocacy against current drug policy and hoping to move us towards better drug policy and look at societal issues more broadly, what specifically are you doing now to get more people to come around to your views on the use of drugs in our society and the laws the we have to regulate use of those drugs?

>> i think i just wanted to address the issue of the game is fixed just briefly because some people might want to know, have commented on that. when i say the game is fixed, there are people in the country who says that the disproportionate numbers of black people who are arrested because of drugs is not about race. they actually say that. this is not about race. these are the same people who say that the killing of trayvon martin was not about race. and so when people are saying that these things are not about race, it is shaping the game. it is shaping the conversation. it is limiting the conversation. it is not allowing us to put all of the cards on the table and so

the game is fixed in that way in that you can't even talk about race in 2013 when we all know it is about race. when you think about the drug policy and so forth it is clearly about race and that is why when you ask what i am doing, i wrote this book, i don't usually communicate with the public, in part because you have to be, in my position and the world in which i live and work, you have to be more diplomatic than i know how to be. it is easier not to communicate with the public because i don't know how to do this thing where people are not fully disclosing what the situation is when the data is telling them what the

situation is and so my attempt to communicate with the public with "high price" is a huge effort on my part because i don't try to offend people and i don't want to offend people but i have no time for obstinately ignorant people. that is just hard for me and people get offended and i don't mean to offend people. so "high price" is a step in the direction, it is an attempt for me to communicate with the general public. that is one. and in "high price," i lay out a program, policy recommendations that i think will be beneficial and i think they are evidence based and they certainly will

lessen the racial disparities that we see in our criminal justice system. but i am not sure if the country is serious about decreasing racial disparity. and i have no time for people engaging in this conversation when they are not serious. [applause] >> okay. we have a lot to think about from carl hart. now we are going to let you who had a chance to think a little bit ask some questions that you have of him. the microphone is here to my left, your right. can you make your way to the microphone, please?

>> greetings. i apologize that i came in late. >> that is all right. >> i was out there doing a reading. i also apologize that i haven't read the book. i read about it. my question because i came in when you were saying it wasn't about the drug's. i you familiar with dr. gator massey? you know that he seeks adult addiction in very severe early trauma. i am going to read the book i told you last night. is your research running counter to his philosophy and his work? if you could share a little bit about that. his book in the realm of hungry goats which i recommend. >> you have to understand he has a very narrow perspective. that is not an insult. i appreciate what the brother is

doing. trying to change the discussion which is good. but he has focused only on people who have a problem with drugs. that is a narrow percentage. the vast majority of people don't have a problem. he doesn't see them. he is talking about is narrow clinical population. it is not really relevant to -- my interest is in the 90% of the people who don't have a problem. the brothers and sisters who are being arrested that is my interest but i really appreciate the fact that he is asking folks to think about the trauma these people are subjected to so i applaud his efforts. so the question was i don't disagree that early severe trauma can lead to addiction. if you are only focused on addiction as a result of early

from lot you are probably too narrow. there are a wide range of problems that could lead to an addiction is just one. >> next question. >> i work a little bit with the peer network of new york. majority of whom do not have degrees and formal education and i would like to ask you, in your opinion, the most effective way to incorporate piers around drug policy and education around drug use, particularly crack and cocaine and like you said, talking about crack. it is great work but it has challenges. my question is working with the peer network of users and x users -- and x users and the level you have for having a

published work. >> i want to be clear. talking about the folks who are trying to help people who are using drugs. you want to make sure the people who are disseminating the knowledge are actually knowledgeable. in this bill there are a number of people who engage in conversation about drugs and know very little about drugs. for example i have used drugs. let's just say if someone has used drugs, i am qualified to tell you about drugs. that is not true. people who have drug addictions are also some of the folks who have been most resistant -- resistant to my message. they are average in terms of drug users but on the one hand

you think about folks that are addictive or have had addictions. one of the things addiction's do is serve particularly for people who have overcome their addictions. they serve as badges of honor. this was so awful, crack cocaine addiction, apps addiction, whatever it is and i am so strong that i overcame it and i am trying to take away this badge of honor. i am saying probably not. you can see how they will be resistant. some, not all. i am asking you to make sure people are educated about drugs, not only have their personal experience but they know something about the effect of drugs, that they really know a wide range of information about drugs. >> my point was more like how to

legitimize users without any kind of formal scientific, academic background. i love criticism we get in our work, that working with the peer networks, how are you giving the piers the platform to takeover talk about drug policy? >> you actually have to know something about drugs. you can't get around that. if you really know about drugs and have our comprehensive understanding it is hard for people to shut you out if people know what you are talking about and that is the basic sort of thing. some people say my sincerity or my credentials, not good enough. >> i have two questions. the first is imac counting bachelor program and i was told drugs have a different effect on

different people and so what might be hard for one person might unlock cycles and another person. how do you feel about that? my second question is even within your safe limits we are conditioned to believe some drugs have an effect on our cognitive abilities. i you saying using it as you prescribe for those who choose to use it won't have additional cognitive decline beyond what is necessary for aging or genetics? >> drugs have a different effect on different people. how many people here drink alcohol? does alcohol different -- have a different effect on these people? of course it does. it has a different effect on me under different conditions. that is not unique to any drug. >> with regard to mental health for people who might be predisposition toward a mental illness, you might smoke weed and nothing happens. you don't know what. you are not predisposed to

mental illness, you drink we a lot, you will never be the same. that is what we were taught and wondering what you think. >> we think about the information, the issue is related to people being more susceptible to psychosis or what have you because of their background, their genetic background. i wouldn't recommend that people who have a family history of schizophrenia for example smoke weed or take amphetamines. i would not recommend that. if you know you have mental health issues, you don't want to do anything that might put you in any kind of harm's way. that is also kind of common sense. it is also part of the education. >> what about the people you don't know? they are underdiagnosed. if you don't think you have a family history -- >> you are asking me to solve

the clash problem of the country. ignorance, there are a number of people who don't know a number of things and they have negative health consequences as a result. the same is true here. if you don't know and you engage inhis behavior you are more likely to have if you don't know you have a greater risk for breast cancer or whenever, i can't solve that problem. if you don't know, i don't know. >> a couple things you said. the first was eighty% to 90% of people who paid taxes, and you want them to legitimately compete in mainstream society, do you feel mainstream society

is legitimate? the act of paying taxes that go to war and everything but than mainstream society is the goal and it is not social transformation how do we take efforts in new york with the lincoln clinic trying to use acupuncture as a way to get people off of drugs and transform society. in general, what do you propose, excuse me, can i respectfully not -- what do you propose -- what is your view on this society? is it legitimate such that if you use drugs and still have a job and go to work and use fossil fuels, that is cool? or as black people should be focused on transforming the society such that these drugs wind be needed to be used as escape mechanisms like my church

-- i am asking. >> first of all, i don't exactly know what you asked. i am trying to respect the question. one of the most important questions you asked is do i consider this the legitimate society. that was an important question. >> paying taxes and going on and drugs by 80% or 90% are okay, that is what we are aiming for as people. and in this society, that need to escape. >> right on. number one, do i consider this legitimate society? it is. it is the mainstream. obviously there are other ways of doing things and that is cool if they become more prominent or

more prevalent they become legitimate. i have no problem with that. your point is what about encouraging people to change the legitimate society as it is today? we have problems with it. i agree. but again, i am not the best person to talk about how to change society because my expertise are on drugs and there are a lot more smart people than me on that subject. the final thing was related to people using drugs to escape. that is a myth. people use drugs for a variety of reasons, but they have some important functions. for example there are people in here who will go have a glass of wine and do a wide range of things and do so because it during 3 -- it decreases anxiety, makes the people around

you more interesting. people use drugs for the same way -- they have important functions. it is not escape sort of thing, is half ology, 10% to 20%. the 80% to 90% understand why they're using these drugs under the specific conditions, because they work under these specific conditions. thank you. >> i have a really quick question. >> i have to sit down. is that it? i am trying to make this interesting. >> this is a really quick question. you said a couple times drugs are not the problem. when you consider that prescription drugs are a problem

in this society, consider it may even be bigger problem than the illegal drugs, you consider an addiction is an addiction, sugar is an addiction, sugar is the huge addiction in this society that contributes to the overall diabetes. would you consider these drugs a problem and in fact maybe even a larger problem than the drugs you are focusing on? >> one of the things i want to be careful and careful not to do it "high price" is vilified a group of drugs or other drug while i am trying to show these other drugs are not so bad. drugs are schools. they can be used improperly and misused and certainly with some of the prescription medications some are overprescribed and become a problem, that is a fact but again, there are people

benefited immensely from treatment with some of these drugs so one of the things we have done in this society is starting to vilify prescription pain pills. there are odd number of people, millions of people who are experiencing chronic pain who will have access to certain drugs limited because our vilification of prescription drugs, and i don't want to do that either. there are irresponsible physicians out there who are overprescribing. i absolutely agree but the vast majority of them are responsible for the most part. and so when we say whether drugs are good or bad or illegal or not, drugs are not either. drugs are not good or bad. we know how to increase potential beneficial effects and decrease potential negative affects and they are useful

tools just like the automobile. the automobile, some people are reckless and get in trouble with it but we wouldn't say cars are bad. >> you are a narrow scientist, correct? >> correct. >> i know you described it in the beginning. can you describe it to me again? what your purpose is in what you are trying to to do. >> what is my purpose? >> in ten words or less. >> what i do is i study the effect of drugs on the brain and on behavior. i want to know what drugs do and what drugs don't do in the body. does that help you at all? >> to what end? to the end that -- why? >> what end? i study the effects of drugs on the brain and behavior so we are

no longer a their rent and pass bad drug policies. that is the main reason. >> my son is following in your footsteps. he is a ph.d. and has been asked columbia for three years now. i hope he gets tenure like you. >> he is that colombia doing his ph.d.? >> he has done his ph.d. and has a lab. >> i am sorry, we need to go. they cut you off. all right. >> hello, carl hart. i commend you regarding the book. i myself am an educator so i want to buy that book. i want to ask something interesting about, it is like sex, introducing it to your children. i think everything starts at home. who is qualified? i know you are -- the person who wrote this book and i see what you are trying to do but who is

qualified until you read this book to when it is age appropriate to tell your kids about drugs on many levels? >> i think teenagers on up, it is appropriate for teenagers on a band of course adults. the problem in the country is our drug education in this country is at the high-level of a sixth grader, and eleven-year-old or 12-year-old. i am trying to increase the intellectual total little bit and "high price". we need -- i am arguing we need to have this drastic increase in drug education in the country. i think the book is appropriate for teenagers. parents will learn a lot as well. >> so you think that as a parent in the home, parents are educated regarding telling their child about drugs, would you

recommend them apart from reading the book where else can they go to get information so they can start telling their kids at a young age? or an appropriate? >> that is a difficult one. the country's education in terms of the drugs is that the adolescent level. "high price" is trying to have a more adult conversation so "high price" is the absolute requirement. >> another question. do you see yourself, i know you are incorporating this within your course, is that what you are doing? >> i don't use "high price" in my course because i have another textbook which i use for my course. that book is more draw, more academic and it costs four times more than "high price". time for someone else. >> thank you. thank you all for coming.

>> final question? >> em man has a question. >> i want to say how much i appreciate the book, i appreciate you, i appreciate your commitment to bring in your expertise to bear. there is a lot of anxiety, ambivalence about this to me as indicative of the deeply rooted myths that operate in our society. they have been destructive in society that have nothing to do with knowledge or facts and everything to do with prejudice and fear. much of the continent of actor got -- africa are under painful misapprehensions about sex and the transmission of aids and millions of people die because they refuse to understand what is necessary to treat or prevent the transmission of hiv and i hate to think that in this day we want to not appreciate, at

least information. everyone will respond accordingly as individuals, but to somehow suggest the transference of that information is not appropriate or because it makes us uncomfortable to me reminds us of much of the world around sex up until quite recently as a reproductive tool to gain pleasure from sex was to make a woman is immoral. we craft entire societies around binding women's ability to operate in the world because sex was not about pleasure. there's a lot in this space and i want to applaud you. i also want to say someone asked a question about appropriate drug use. if we want to save lives like we want young people to use condoms properly, thank you very much. >> thank all of you who are here

today. [applause]. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

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[inaudible conversations] >> now joining us here at the harlem book fair is dr. carl hart. you have been listening to him. his book,. he joins us to take your calls and we will begin with a call from margaret in wilmington, delaware. you are on with carl hart, alondra 11price: a neuroscienti journey of self-discovery that challenges everything you know about drugs and society"" . >> reporter: i have a range of children at home fromi have a rt home from ages 7 to teenagers.

a a are exposed to these alcohol and drugs in their homeland when they're in my home they are not exposed to these things and this is what they are going back to. i tried to am power of them. i have to empower the children. many times i have teenagers in the home, they have been exposed to everything as far as being in st. company coming in the household and for whatever reason. >> host: what is your question? >> caller: how do i am power? give me questions on how to empower these children as they go back to the home. >> guest: make sure they have as much information as possible in terms of drugs that make sure they are doing well in school,

make sure they are meeting their responsibilities. all those things are far more important. if they are doing well in school and meeting their responsibilities you are giving them a head start in life. >> host: tony tweets and at what stage of child development should we start proper drug education? >> guest: think about it like sex. people say kids ask about drugs, there's a situation that comes up, talk about drugs, talk about it in terms of your own alcohol use or tobacco use so they understand all these things are biological tools and did they have an defect on the body. wherever the opportunity presents itself, start it as soon as possible. >> host: eric in seattle you are on the phone with carl hart. >> caller: i respect your work very much. i would like to see you speak about how the government, and

basically the government uses drugs to suppress -- segment neighborhoods and these charges of drug use, and these of drug use, and these they vote -- stop you from getting housing and the study needs to be done. and actually using marijuana since the government, you can research long-term, and insert the space and what do you think of this. >> guest: there are studies, we already have studies published on long-term effects of marijuana. more studies on marijuana than anything else except maybe alcohol. we have quite a bit of education

about marijuana, good information and most of the information tells us marijuana is like any other drug. we noticed from natural history as well most people who smoke marijuana say is a gateway drug to the white house. president clinton smoked it, president bush can't president obama. not to make light of marijuana use but we should think of it like we think of something like alcohol, get in trouble in some conditions in you will be okay. >> host: tyler posts on our facebook page of all drugs be legal? >> i don't think it should be legacep i lay out we should decriminalize all drugs but the country's too ignorant for drug lcebalization, people get in trouble with drugs but what will happen is people will trigger drug-related problems or problems that may not be drug related but somewhere in the mix they will distribute the drugs and stop looking so people need

to have some education about drugs on -- it is too low. >> ditst: in orcebon, high, nat. >> caller: what do you suggest in a way of communicating positions which i agree with, just certain family members and friends or peers in regards to your overall message, i am wondering how i can take it. >> host: what is your overall message? >> q mayte simple. the country has been lied to about the effect of drugs. the ncebative effect of drugs have been so exaggerated it has

created an environment in which we go after drugs at all costs for certain groups and that is too high. >> ditst: where do a and m a fi into your message andmemelated profor ams? >> guest: i think they are good programs with social gatherings, a pea -- keeping people plug in socially but in terms of drug education and treatment i donpl know what they'd do in that regard but i thid b they are important to keep people pled in, keeping plug in and sociali oud will give people -- keep people away from drugs if that is what they want to do and enhance their ability to make a contribution in society so those programs are good for s, kial interaction. >> host: j. r. in oklahoma, good morning. hello. j. r. we are listening. >> caller: let me confor atulat

him on his accomplishments. as the 77-year-old fighting an advocate for the 4, for 50 ulaas it makes me sick to think that he is promoting illcebal drugs for these young people as a way to deal with the problems of the world's, wasting time and monaw and should be out there overcoming these weaknesses. it is not a good message for the blacks, not a good message for anthing eody. >> ditst: let's get an answer. >> guest: i am not promoting drug use. that is a mischaracterization of my position. i would encourage the caller to actually listen to the message with an open mind and not react. i donple know what to say. that is a mischaracterization >> host: cartersville, georgi bu

you are on booktv. >> caller: a comment more than a question. i spent 15 years in the florida department of corrections with 19, 25onfear-old males and i fel you are right on point with the notion of changing drug policy because i have seen firsthand that even if the young man tries to do better policy assistance, based on that -- >> host: we are out of tims g carl hart's final comment. >> guest: please enhance your educationa thad b you. >> host: dr. carl hart, "high price" is the name of the book. live coverage of the harlem book festival, the fifteenth annuacep now a panel on onmrican-america history in the twenty-first century. >> good onmternoon, everyone. my name is troy johnson and i am founder and president of the african-american literature book

club better known aalpc.com as. we are promoting booout t writt by or about people of african descent. .. in