Drugs

Joey Jones

Mrs. Davis

English Comp II

February 27, 2012

Critique: “Drugs”

In the article “Drugs” written by Gore Vidal, Mr. Vidal is weighing in on the drug problem in the United States. Mr. Vidal’s thesis states that “it is possible to stop most drug addiction in the United States within a very short time. Simply make all drugs available and sell them at cost.” This subject is of current interest due to the fact that California and a few other states have legalized marijuana sales with a legal prescription for specific medical uses. This legalizing is very controversial in the states where it is legal and even more controversial in the states that it is not.

Mr. Vidal is making the point that in his opinion we could stop most drug addiction in the United States by legalizing drugs and selling them at cost. He knows that this will not happen because our government has learned nothing from the past attempts at prohibition and repression. If drugs were legalized and labeled with a precise description of what effect--good and bad--that Americans could then make their own decisions. This would get rid of the drug Mafias and the Bureau of Narcotics two things that are not about to go away without a struggle. He understands that things are going to keep growing worse because the American people are as devoted to the idea of sin and its punishment as they are to making money.

The article is effective at getting you to think about how things could be if drugs were legalized. It has strong points mostly for the legalization of drugs and not very many arguments in support of keeping drugs illegal. I think that comparing legalizing drugs to alcohol is a bit of a stretch. There are some drugs out there that are a lot worse than alcohol. I feel that the author is a biased towards the legalization of drugs from what is stated in this article.

I feel that this article makes a strong one-sided point towards legalizing drugs. I would have to agree that...