High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society | Carl L. Hart

How do cultural myths about addiction distort our understanding of drugs and public policy? Neuroscientist Carl Hart investigates in his provocative memoir High Price.

Rethinking Addiction and Society

High Price is the harrowing and inspiring memoir of neuroscientist Carl Hart, a man who grew up in one of Miami’s toughest neighborhoods and, determined to make a difference as an adult, tirelessly applies his scientific training to help save real lives.

Young Carl didn't see the value of school, studying just enough to keep him on the basketball team. Today, he is a cutting-edge neuroscientist whose landmark, controversial research is redefining our understanding of addiction. In this eye-opening memoir, Dr. Hart recalls his journey of self-discovery, exploring how he escaped a life of crime and drugs to avoid the very kind of addiction he now studies.

Interweaving past and present, Hart goes beyond the hype to examine the relationship between drugs and pleasure, choice, and motivation, both in the brain and in society. His paradigm-shifting findings shed new light on common ideas about race, poverty, and drugs, explaining precisely why current public policies and the "war on drugs" are failing.

Key Thematic Elements

• Socioeconomic Impact on Addiction: Argues that social environment and economic factors play a far larger role in drug use than the pharmacological properties of the substances themselves.
• Systemic Policy Critique: Highlights how scientific evidence is frequently ignored in favor of culturally ingrained myths when shaping drug laws and public policy.
• Triumph Over Adversity: Offers an honest, deeply personal account of overcoming structural barriers in one of Miami's most challenging neighborhoods.

About the Author

Dr. Carl Hart is a pioneering neuroscientist and Columbia University’s first tenured African American professor in the sciences. His groundbreaking research focuses on the behavioral and neuropharmacological effects of psychoactive drugs in humans. Through his work and public advocacy, he actively challenges societal misconceptions surrounding drug addiction, race, and poverty.

Frequently Asked Questions

Reader Targeting

Read This If You Enjoy...

• Memoirs of personal transformation, scientific discovery, and overcoming systemic adversity.
• Critiques of the criminal justice system, the "war on drugs," and systemic inequality.
• Accessible, paradigm-shifting science writing exploring psychology and neuroscience.

Product Specifications