Yale academic caught on hot mic SUPPORTS drug use in low-income areas
'[Drug dealers] might meet up with six people [in Harlem],' Ryan McNeil said. 'That honestly, is a positive outcome, because it’s a hell of a lot more efficient for everybody.'
McNeil was also caught saying: 'Let’s try to get some more interviews with people who suck. I want to find someone who we can give enough rope to hang themselves with.'
As drug overdoses continue to remain a problem in many urban areas, some academics are vocally opposing community-oriented efforts to control the damage caused by addiction.
Dr. Ryan McNeil, the Director of Harm Reduction Research in Yale’s Program in Addiction Medicine, spoke to Shawn Hill, the co-founder of the Greater Harlem Coalition (GHC), discussing different solutions to drug overdose in impoverished urban communities.
At the end of the Zoom interview, after Hill had left, McNeil continued speaking, not realizing he was still being automatically recorded. McNeil made a number of derogatory comments about Hill’s views to his colleague, Gina Bonilla.
McNeil, a staunch advocate for drug decriminalization, suggested to Bonilla that cooperation between drug dealers and a limited number of local community members may be desirable under certain circumstances.
“[Drug dealers] might meet up with six people [in Harlem],” McNeil said. “That honestly, is a positive outcome, because it’s a hell of a lot more efficient for everybody.”
McNeil also expressed disappointment at Hill’s generally polite demeanor, confessing to Bonilla that he “was hoping he’s going to be, honestly, a bit more of a prick” and that he was “kind of disappointed he wasn’t.”
Towards the end of his “hot mic” exchange with Bonilla, McNeil suggested that he and Bonilla line up interviews with individuals, who, in his view, “suck,” saying: “Let’s try to get some more interviews with people who suck. I want to find someone who we can give enough rope to hang themselves with.”
In addition to conducting academic research, McNeil also acts as an advisor to community and governmental healthcare organizations. According to his Yale School of Medicine profile, he “actively collaborates with community-based organizations, including peer-driven drug user, sex worker, and tenant rights organizations, to align his research with community priorities and provide opportunities for people with lived experience to co-lead and engage in research.”
GHC is a community-based advocacy organization whose goals center around mitigating the impacts of substance abuse in low-income areas. In particular, the group supports “small-scale holistic addiction treatment programs” as an alternative to larger, institutionalized drug clinics.
McNeil and Bonilla have issued a formal apology, in which they said that “the words we used have caused distress” and subsequently apologized for their “serious lapse in judgment.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Yale University and Dr. McNeil for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.