2016-03-31

ymarkov: (Face)
2016-03-31 12:45 am
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Пуримная песня

(Пели с мужиками в прошедший Пурим.) Спасибо [livejournal.com profile] osnatka, [livejournal.com profile] sheyne_miryam, и [livejournal.com profile] shaulreznik.
Тихо в лесу... )
ymarkov: (Face)
2016-03-31 10:18 am
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Dr. Carl Hart at SXSWi Conference

Earlier this month at South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi), Columbia University neuropsychopharamacologist Carl Hart gave a talk called "Mythbusting the Drug War With Science" in which he explicitly made the case that the notion that "drug addiction is a health problem that requires treatment" is exactly the wrong way to look at the use of drugs in the United States. [...]

[C]ontrary to widespread perceptions, the vast majority of drug users aren't addicts. "When I say drug abuse and drug addiction, I'm thinking of people whose psycho-social functioning is disrupted," he said later in the talk. But for more than three-quarters of drug users (and we're not just talking about marijuana here, either), that description doesn't apply.

This overturns the conventional wisdom on drug addiction, but Hart thinks that's a good thing. We've all been fed a diet of panic-inducing misinformation about what drugs actually do to our brains, he says.

(From here.)

From High Price by Dr. Hart:

Much of what we are doing in terms of drug education, treatment, and public policy is inconsistent with scientific data. In order to come to terms with what I have seen in the lab and read in the scientific literature, there is nothing else to do but speak out. Using empirical data, not just personal anecdotes or speculation, I have to discuss the implications of my work outside the insulated and cautious scientific journals, which were my normal métier. Because basically, most of what we think we know about drugs, addiction, and choice is wrong. And my work—and my life—shows why.

http://www.drcarlhart.com/addiction-not-brain-disease/