Mental Disorder

Charles Fain Lehman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at City Journal. I invited him on the podcast to talk about his recent article “How I Changed my Mind About Marijuana.” As Charles says in our podcast, the public debate around marijuana has largely been about whether criminalization is bad rather than whether legalization is good. Since it’s been legalized, the potency of marijuana has increased, use by young people and daily use have reached all-time highs, and the illegal market has continued to thrive. Whatever your view on the subject is, it’s fair to say there’s room for improvement. We also discuss what society would look like if Amazon sold heroin, problems with the East-Asian model of drug prohibition, America’s 40-year amphetamine bender, why “psychedelic science” is mostly about legalizing psychedelics, not science, and the limits of individual liberty.Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Links: * Charles Fain Lehman, How I Changed my Mind About Marijuana.* David T. Courtwright, The Age of Addiction.* Charles Fain Lehman, How Equity Ruined Cannabis Legalization in New York. * Goldstein & Sumner, Can Legal Weed Win?* Charles Fain Lehman, Adderall Kids and their Families. * Breeksma et al., Adverse Events in Clinical Treatments with Serotonergic Psychedelics and MDMA: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review.* Charles Fain Lehman, Rick Doblin Knows Exactly What He's Doing* MAPS, Psychedelic Science Conference 2023* CBC, Outreach Groups Fight for Life in the Midst of a Deadly Drug Supply [Video].* Charles Fain Lehman, This Is Your City on Fentanyl.* Michael Shellenberger, San Fransicko.* Charles at Manhattan Institute, on Twitter, on Substack. Get full access to Mental Disorder at www.mentaldisorder.ca/subscribe

Stephen Eide is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at City Journal. I invited him on the podcast to talk about how moral and epistemic values structure public policy debates around homelessness and mental illness. We talk about how relativism has paved the way for a team-up between “trust the science” technocrats and those with the right kinds of “lived experience.” While psychiatry’s scientific status is questionable, we both agree that mental health reformers on the center-left and -right have little choice but to ground their arguments in its “objectivity” in today’s political environment. We also discuss the limits of “housing first” approaches to homelessness, the Freudian revolution, how expanding the definition of mental illness has hurt those with the worst illnesses, and why taking morality out of mental health has paved the way for figures like Jordan Peterson to gain popularity. We conclude by talking about how families of people with serious mental illness have been negatively impacted by deinstitutionalization, and how a pro-family political movement could harness their stories to improve mental healthcare.You can find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.Links:* Stephen Eide, Political Theory for the Homeless.* Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind.* Stephen Eide, Homelessness in America: The History and Tragedy of an Intractable Social Problem.* Homelessness in America [Video].* Stephen Eide, DSM Review: The Meaning of Madness.* Jonah Davids, The Economics of Mental Illness.* Stephen Eide, To Help the Mentally Ill Help Their Families.* Robert Kolker, Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family.* Stephen at the Manhattan Institute. Get full access to Mental Disorder at www.mentaldisorder.ca/subscribe

Most mental health podcasts are pretty boring, emotion-oriented, and non-controversial. So I’m starting the Mental Disorder podcast to try and do something different. Mental health is a serious problem, and to think about it coherently requires us to engage with science, politics, and philosophy. Every two weeks, I’ll be releasing a conversation with an expert, journalist, or practitioner working in mental health who is thinking about the problem in an interdisciplinary manner. Listen to the podcast above to find out more. If you’re not already subscribed, head to www.mentaldisorder.ca/subscribe to get notified of new podcasts and articles from me. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, email me at mentaldisorderpod@gmail.com or message me on Twitter @jonahdavids1.You can also find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Get full access to Mental Disorder at www.mentaldisorder.ca/subscribe