Gore Vidal, Drugs - Response

Gore Vidal: Drugs - Response

Gore Vidal argues that we as a nation should legalize drugs in order to prevent the Bureau of Narcotics and the Mafiosi from making money inversely causing them to "wither away." While Vidal makes many strong arguments, I disagree. All people are individuals. That is, they all have their differences; be it biologically, emotionally, and/or mentally.

People can react to drugs very differently. Vidal uses marijuana as a one of his more frequent examples. Although it has been proven to not be biologically addicting, it can, for the right person, be mentally addicting. I, for instance, know of many people who fall under the mentally addicted column and many that don't. John, a good friend, is someone who is mentally addicted to marijuana. He is constantly in need and smokes marijuana as frequently as a fourth year cigarette smoker. This has affected John in almost all aspects of his life. He has turned into a lazy and overweight man who sits on his couch watching re-runs all day. John is a college graduate who had a lot of goals, but when asked recently, he couldn't remember what they were.

I can understand that Vidal argues for marijuana to be legalized. It is not nearly as dangerous as others. However, Vidal argues for all drugs to be legalized. This is absurd! How can we, as a nation, allow drugs that separate families, kill its' abusers, and cause users to kill? Not only will the number of addicts increase, but drug related crimes will also increase. How can legalizing a drug as physically addicting as heroin have a good effect? What will happen to a heroin addict once he/she is spent and in need of a "fix?" They will be blinded by their overwhelming physical addiction and kill if they need to for that fix. Thus, legalizing drugs as addicting as cocaine, heroin, opium, and so on is not a good idea today nor will