Naked LunchNaked Lunch was described by the author as "brutal, obscene and disgusting". It was declared "obscene, indecent and impure... and taken as a whole... predominantly prurient and hardcore pornography and absolutely without redeeming social importance", when it was taken to court in Boston in 1965. However, declaring the novel of William Burroughs being completely without redeeming social importance seems inaccurate. Naked Lunch paints a vivid portrait of addiction in all its horror and the constant degradation of the addicts around whom the novel centers. Burroughs titles his introduction “Deposition: Testimony Concerning an Illness.” He believes that addiction is a disease and believes that addiction should be treated as a physical disorder, not a psychological one. The body of the novel is not pornography; it's not unnecessarily graphic and obscene. Rather, it uses its brutality and obscenity to portray the destructiveness of addiction. Although it contains detailed descriptions of the use of drugs and also describes how to use them, it is not a manual on the use of drugs. It could rather be taken as a warning against the use of such drugs. The novel provides a detailed description of the horrific consequences of addiction, as well as a warning: “Look DOWN down that rubbish road before you travel there and join the wrong mafia… A word to the wise” (xlv). The novel warns against addiction, against the use of the drugs described within. As a warning against drug use and as a study of addiction, Naked Lunch has both social and scientific value. During the Boston trial, writers Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, and John Ciardi all testified in favor of the novel, affirming its literary importance. When the book was declared not obscene by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the decision was based on the fact that a "substantial and intelligent group" within the literary community believed the novel had literary significance (394). being considered endowed not only with salvific social value, but also with scientific and literary value, Naked Lunch cannot be declared obscene in a legal sense.