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4/4/13 Why Drugs Should Be Legal In an article called “Drugs” by Gore Vidal. Vidal makes a strong case for legalizing all drugs in this country. He discusses basic human nature and events to make his claim. Basically Gore makes three main points about drug use. He tells the reader that making drugs illegal does not stop drug addiction and trafficking, why legalized drugs would work, and why legalization is still unlikely to occur. My own view on the legalizing of drugs does not agree with Vidal. “Don’t say that marijuana is addictive or dangerous when it is neither” (Vidal). This is not a fact. Most people know that marijuana is addictive, especially if they have friends or loved ones who smoke marijuana regularly. The National Institute on Drug Use (NIDA) states that, “While not everyone who uses marijuana becomes addicted, when a user begins to seek out and take the drug compulsively, that person is said to be dependent or addicted to the drug. In 1995, 165,000 people attending drug treatment programs reported marijuana as their main drug of abuse, showing they need help to stop using the drug”. Also according to the National Institute on Drug Use marijuana use leads to other drug use. “Long-term studies of high school students and their patterns of drug use show that very few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying marijuana. For example, the risk of using cocaine is 104 times greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it. Using marijuana puts children and teens in contact with people who are users and sellers of other drugs. So there is more of a risk that a marijuana user will be exposed to and urged to try more drugs”. So how can marijuana not be dangerous if it can lead to use of other drugs that are extremely dangerous such as “speed”? Marijuana can also affect driving and lead to car accidents. “In one study conducted in Memphis, TN, researchers found that, of 150 reckless drivers who were