by Dr. Carl Hart
I read Drug Use for Grownups before reading this; if I had read this first, I think I would have been surprised to read the second. This is Dr. Hart’s memoir. Throughout his youth and young adulthood, we feel him just floating above the surface of drug use – just a little marijuana and alcohol, very little, with his athletic performance as an excuse. And a little cocaine later. He doesn’t seem really into any of it. So what a surprise to find him an unapologetic heroin hobbyist in the second book. His overall message is the same – drugs don’t ruin lives, people ruin lives; it’s just that I really wouldn’t have pegged him for a user.
I do love a life story and I enjoyed his memoir. It did give an interesting perspective on life and problems in “the hood”. Hart grew up with five older sisters and two younger brothers; an alcoholic father, eventually separated parents. He witnessed crime, addiction, abuse; he shoplifted, he fathered a child he didn’t know about for 16 years. He also played basketball and joined the military, and from there it’s a story of life turned around.
Tytania 