257 - Carl Hart: The Neuroscience of Drugs and Their Role in the Good Life
257 - Carl Hart: The Neuroscience of Drugs and Their Role in the Good Life  
Podcast: Robinson's Podcast
Published On: Sun Aug 17 2025
Description: Carl Hart is Mamie Phipps Clark Professor of Psychology at Columbia University, where he researches the behavioral and neuropharmacological effects of psychoactive drugs in humans. In this wide-ranging conversation, Robinson and Carl discuss drugs from many different angles, touching on the neuroscience of addiction, the opioid crisis, drugs’ connections to poverty, the roles they can play in a creative life, and more. Carl’s most recent book is Drug Use for Grown-Ups (2021, Penguin).Drug Use for Grown-Ups: https://a.co/d/efgXuJKOUTLINE00:00:49 Introduction00:03:14 What Is a Drug?00:14:58 DARE and Drug Education00:26:07 Rodrigo Duterte and the Drug War in the Philippines00:39:25 Studying Drugs in the Lab00:49:07 Does Addiction Change the Brain?00:58:12 On the Opioid Crisis01:10:42 How Should We Solve the Opioid Crisis?01:14:01 What Is the Connection Between Drugs and Poverty?01:18:21 How Do Drugs Affect the Brain?01:28:27 How Can Drugs Improve Your Creativity?01:36:04 Should Science Inform Drug Policy?Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where is also a student in the Law School.