Letter to the editor of The New York Times Book Review. Read it below or click HERE.
Anatomy of Addiction
To The Editor:
In her review of Carl L. Hart’s book “Drug Use for Grown-Ups” (Jan. 17), Casey Schwartz is right to note that many readers might feel “discomfort” when hearing about the author’s “full-throated endorsement” of opiates for recreational use. That includes his own regular use of heroin, which Hart suggests he can easily control and also has benefits. The estimated more than two million Americans who are in need of treatment are not so lucky. For them, addiction has serious repercussions — the loss of friends and family and careers, and the unrelenting need to feed their habit by any means possible — that make life not only miserable but also very risky.
With drug fatalities in the United States at record levels last year and more than 450,000 deaths over the past two decades (a majority of them opioid-related), it is inconceivable how Hart can dismiss the “opioid crisis” in scare quotes, suggesting that it does not exist.
This crisis is real and a public health menace, especially for those who cannot access drug treatment, the most effective way to address the disease of addiction. I agree with Hart that the “war on drugs” has failed, but his war on the reality of addiction is far more dangerous.
Mitchell S. Rosenthal, M.D.
New York
Mitchell S. Rosenthal, M.D., is the founder of Phoenix House and president of the Rosenthal Center for Addiction Studies.