Burroughs’ writing is widely interpreted to depict existence in terms of universal addiction, and a fight against it. This chapter shows the extent to which drug use in his life and work lies outside this simplistic model. His ‘Algebra of Need’ polemics are shown to belong to a specific period, and an account of his career with drugs outlines his opiate use; his excursion into hallucinogens, notably yagé, as psychic exploration; and his chosen literary precursors, notably De Quincey. Burroughs became more comfortable with his dependency in later life, and he finally emphasizes drug use, particularly in an American historical context, as a libertarian political issue. The chapter notes his depiction of drug experience as a potentially valuable subjective space, together with nostalgia and dreaming, and suggests that a common denominator throughout his changing stances on drugs is freedom: not only from addiction, but from the body, and from social control.