`DRUGS` BY GORE VIDAL

Cicely Clay 29 January 2008

Drug abuse or addiction has always been one of the most significant concerns of our country 's government where its people are concerned , and prohibition evidently appears to be the unquestionable and automatic response regarding the matter . The novelist and social critic , Gore Vidal , however , in an article in the New York Times dating back September of 1970 presents a different philosophy and approach regarding the issue

Vidal believes that drug addiction can be prevented , or solved entirely , if government were to make every narcotic available

for consumption by its people . Our government should have the 'heroic honesty ' to sell every drug available in the market and provide factual information regarding the corresponding positive and /or negative side effects of the said drug , as opposed to false and generic cautions riding under the heading of 'addictive ' and so on

By allowing people to decide whether or not a particular activity or course of action will be to their detriment or well being , government is affirming , and perhaps only affording its people the necessary right to pursue their respective happiness , or the possibility of it . On the same note , by providing honest and specific disclaimers as to what people are getting themselves involved in , people will no longer need to resort to drug use out of sheer curiosity , and in the instance that they do , they are aware of specific consequences that will result therein , and the instance of abuse will come at a lower possibility

The premise of Vidal 's philosophy is quite simple . Government is prohibiting people from taking certain drugs and narcotics because , in vague and generic reasoning , it is bad ' for them . And while this is true of most prohibited drugs , people should at least be informed in a sensible and honest manner why these drugs are generally regarded as such

In the instance that every drug is made available for consumption perhaps everyone will partake of it , the nation may turn out as a population of zombies who care for nothing of reality , are inside each of their own hallucinations , and are constantly or generally put high ' Of course it also follows that if a great number of the populace are using drugs , economic implications such as the decrease in GNP will ensue , and communist countries will probably turn against us for our obscenely liberal and indulgent processes . But that 's just one possibility . The other would be if a relatively sane and 'normal individual were to be forearmed and forewarned of the consequences and side effects of a particular drug , then the instance of drug addiction will appear less than likely , or maybe even non-existent

Vidal concludes that if government were to give the general public the freedom to decide what would ultimately do them good or bad by making every drug available for public consumption , then people wouldn 't need to resort to it as a form of deviant behavior . Because as far as human nature goes , people always...