Gore Vidal Legalize Drugs Summary

In Gore Vidal’s essay, he talks about why drugs should be legalized in the United States. He explains why he thinks they should be legalized with points like if all drugs such as opioids were legal, addiction would stop. He goes on to explain his thinking and then state more points which are as ridiculous as this in an attempt to persuade people to want the same thing as him. Although Vidal is trying to make a case for legalizing drugs like opioids, I do not think they should be due to the increase in addiction, overdoses because of opioids, and overall health issues. Vidal’s claim that making opioids legal would eliminate drug addiction is just puzzling for many reasons. I completely disagree with this point mainly due to the fact that

For one, addiction would be the biggest problem due to a person's need for more and more opioids in order to function. Opioid abuse has also been known to weaken a person's immune system and in turn making they more likely to get sick. Also, if a person did not die from a opioid related overdose, they could end up in a coma because of it. Even if a person were to stop using opioids all together, they could have lifelong health problems due to their previous use of opioids. This is more common with the opioid Heroin since it is often used by syringe. Many Heroin users have contracted HIV/AIDS as well as Hepatitis because they tend to share needles with other people who may have these diseases. In conclusion, Vidal's attempt to explain why drugs like opioids should be legal seems very foolish to me. His point about getting rid of addiction just seems idiotic and foolish almost to the point to where I don’t think he knows what he is really saying. The United States is already having trouble with it’s opioids and it’s addiction to opioids. Making them legal would only increase addiction to the point where it would be more out of control then it already is, as well as increasing the amount of overdoses and overall health