If there is one thing we know about Grand Rapids, it is that this city prides itself these days on not adhering to old viewpoints that seem hollow in the light of a new century.
This would explain the 2:1 win at the ballot box in 2012 as voters affirmed to remove the harsh and cruel penalties around the marijuana possession laws impacting the city of Grand Rapids. The result was a changing of the consequence for simple possession from a misdemeanor to a civil infraction.
Many may recall leading up to that historic city vote, the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts programmed the award-winning documentary The House I Live In, which featured a young, strong voice that addressed with simple clarity of thought the reasons we need to revisit so much in our cities and states today.
That man in the documentary is Dr. Carl Hart, PhD, an associate professor in the departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Columbia University and he'll be presenting a lecture on how his study of more than 22 years in the field of drug addiction has led him to the place of ending the failed U.S. War On Drugs policy.
Dr. Hart is a member of the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse and serves on the board of directors at College on Problems of Drug Dependence and the Drug Policy Alliance – groups that are committed to the advancing science around drug addiction.
Dr. Hart is the author of the ground-breaking book High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You know About Drugs and Society.
Dr. Hart's appearance in West Michigan is made possible because of the ACLU as well as many groups in our community who are impacting healthy policy changes in our region, including sponsors Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids Community Foundation's African American Heritage Fund, and the Well House in partnership with the Grand Rapids Red Project and GRCC's Black Student Union.
Admission: Free
More Info