During the Vietnam War, American soldiers and officials used illegal drugs such as marijuana, heroin and opium to release stress from war and to kill the pain of an injury. The uses of narcotics were not strictly monitored and were sold at low prices increasing the amount of usage. The use of illicit drugs may have also resulted in some sexual assaults that led to children with mixed nationalities.
Before the Americans came into Vietnam, drug laws were not well determined and people did not use dope as much. However, soon after the Vietnam War started, most soldiers and citizens dramatically started using narcotics, mostly marijuana. Marijuana was available all over the country and this type of drug was a convenient crop to produce although it was an illegal act. Marijuana usage in Vietnam was far more widespread than it was in the United States and was cheap since it does not have to be imported from a foreign country. However, the South Vietnamese Government tried to tighten its policies so that it will be harder to obtain.
In about 1970, the North and South Vietnam militaries pressured the soldiers to reduce the use of marijuana. This led to soldiers smuggling narcotics and wanting a refined kind of drug that could not be noticed easily. When heroin was first introduced, people hid it in their cigarettes and consumed by smoking. This highly addictive drug became very popular in Vietnam and was consumed a lot. Statistics and army records show that about 50% of the soldiers and officials had used either heroin or opium during the war.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
The Uniform Controlled Substances Act was drafted by the United States Department of Justice in 1969. The Uniform Controlled Substances Act brings together a number of laws regulating the manufacture and distribution of any narcotics. All controlled substances are placed in five different schedules, based on medicinal values, harmfulness and potential for abuse or addiction. Narcotics can be refer to as opium and have semi-synthetic substitutes such as; heroin, oxycontin, vicodin, codeine, morphine and fentanyl. Narcotics “opioids” medical uses are prescribed by doctors to treat pain, suppress cough, cure diarrhea and help as a sleep aid. Other manufacture and distribution drugs are stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, anabolic steroids…
- 137 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
Frank Lucas was a heroin dealer and organized crime boss. Frank Lucas wanted to be rich—what he called "Donald Trump rich." He not only believed he could make it big in the drug world, he understood how to do it. He started with the planning. He called it "backtracking." He would hole himself up in a hotel room, away from any distractions, for a month or two at a time. He would look back on all his past experiences and what he 'd learned. Then he 'd look forward to the future including every possible detail and the detail of the details, making sure he mentally walked through every step of the operation. Frank Lucas realized that to take over Johnson 's operation he needed to break the monopoly of the Italian Mafia. His idea was to bypass the Mafia 's heroin trade in Harlem, and go directly to the source of the drug. By 1968, the Vietnam War had been raging for several years. It was common knowledge that U.S service personnel had been exposed to many different illegal drugs, including heroin. When they came back to the States with their addictions, they sought out new sources. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, dope was rampant in most large American cities, with "brand names" like "Mean Machine," "Can 't Get Enough of that Funky Stuff," and "Harlem Hijack." Lucas knew he could meet this demand and make a hefty profit if he could get the drugs directly from the…
- 3572 Words
- 15 Pages
Better Essays -
What was the principal concern and what was the general outcome regarding heroin abuse among the U.S. armed forces personnel in Vietnam during the 1960s and 1970s?…
- 560 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Intro- Opium- from the Greek word opos, meaning juice or sap, was originally chewed, eaten, or blended into various liquids and swallowed. (Inaba 4-7) It was cultivated in The Mediterranean, and Southwest Asia. Dating all the way back to the 206 B.C., Opium was a major product traded on the Silk Road. This classification of drugs is used primarily to treat pain, diarrhea, and cough. They are known to bring on a sense of euphoria, lower one’s sense of emotional stress or fatigue, and in some instances, suppress opioid withdrawal symptoms. Methods of use are oral injection, smoking, injection, and snorting. Short term effects of use of these drugs can be drowsiness,…
- 519 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The Article I choose is Hard Drugs in the Military by Harold E. Hughes. This briefly explains the copious amount of drug use in the Military, specifically focusing on the Vietnam war. In todays society drug usage is heavily linked to depression and loneliness. Similarly two hundred thousand troops in the Vietnam War where not in combat units meaning that they had to much time on there hands. The troops began to experiment with heroin found in southeast Asia. As said by Harold E. Hughes “narcotics are as readily available as chewing gum and cigarettes in this country.” Meaning that troops had no trouble at all finding low cost drugs. But the reason as to why they resorted to drugs remained a mystery to civilians but made sense to the troops.…
- 276 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
In the 1800s narcotics was mostly unregulated drugs. In the 1890s the (S&R) Sears and Roebuck sent out catalogs which offered a syringe and a small amount of narcotics to millions of homes for 1.50. The first American anti-drug law was an 1875 San Francisco ordinance which outlawed the smoking of opium in opium dens. It was passed because of the fear that Chinese men were luring white women to their "ruin" in opium dens. "Ruin" was defined as associating with Chinese men. It was followed by other similar laws, including Federal laws in which trafficking in opium were forbidden to anyone of Chinese origin, and restrictions on the importation…
- 1818 Words
- 8 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Although Richard Nixon first declared a “war on drugs” in 1971, the war escalated during the Reagan presidency and shifted its focus from treatment toward incarceration and law enforcement. As George Moss and Evan Thomas explain, Reagan came to Washington “committed to waging a war on drugs and bringing the international drug trade under control” in 1981. Thanks to the rise of the Medellin Cartel in Colombia and other cartels in Latin America during the 1980s, illegal drug trade networks flourished, and America became “the world’s major consumer of illicit drugs.” This increased usage of drugs led to many social crises, including heightened urban crime and health problems, which encouraged both the Reagan administration and private groups…
- 1367 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Like Hughes he is making the argument that troops strictly used heroin to cope with the war. In addition to finding the source of their usage, Robins also found little to no evidence that their usage was actually an addiction because many of the troops did not relapse upon their return. According to Robins “most of them had no difficulty giving up heroin, and that should not have been surprising.” (Robins, 1) The troops came back to the life they left, alternatively leaving their war life behind. As seen in The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien came home to live a normal life along with the rest of the drug using troops in his combat unit, with the exception of Ted Lavender. Their Drug usage was suspended because it was not needed, had ted lavender made it home from his tour, he would have been greeted by the same love he left behind, ultimately eliminating his need for dopamine…
- 1198 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The addictive properties of the drug went virtually unnoticed until after the civil war. During the civil war the number of people that were treated for their war injuries sky rocketed and tens of thousands of confederate and northern soldiers became morphine addicts. The United States was plagued with a major morphine epidemic in just over 10 years time. Although no actual statistics were kept on addiction, the problem had grown to large enough proportions that it…
- 1306 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
Many young Americans were involved in the Vietnam War, being a major conflict of their time, and was at its peak in the late to mid-sixties. With over half a million American troops in Vietnam, many ventured into drug use to cope with the stresses of war. Drug abuse was on the rise due to the major paradigm shift in social norms, on the battle field, and the home front. Heroin use among servicemen was high, using heroin as a mental and physical crutch is an effective escape from the tension and stresses of war. Many of these men used for extended periods of time, far beyond what would be considered occasional use and well within range of addiction risk. With so much heroin being used, one might assume that we would…
- 1483 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
When Elvis Presley was stationed in Europe during his military service, his fellow soldiers introduced him to amphetamines and other stimulants used to help keep them alert during long, boring patrol duties. Elvis became addicted to the little brown and green pills – and brought the problem back home with him to Graceland. The King’s death decades later (as a result of a prescription drug overdose) opened many people’s eyes to problems of drug use in the military – a concern that still exists today as thousands of American soldiers are currently fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.…
- 563 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
soldiers. Before the war, 30% of soldiers had tried a drug other than marijuana, 11% had tried an opiate, but no one during that time had tried heroin, until the war. In fact, the only kind of drugs soldiers were taking were amphetamines, that were given to them by doctors, in order to stay alert throughout the day. However, in 1969, heroin started to arrive, infiltrating American culture due to its purity, price, and availability. After the introduction of heroin, a 1971 survey unveiled that about 15% of all soldiers were addicted to heroin, shocking the nation. In order to combat all of the social problems, President Nixon had to come up with a solution. Nixon consulted with a man named Dr. Jerome H Jaffe, who then developed a national strategy. Dr. Jaffe recommended a radical change in policy for handling soldiers addicted to heroin. Under the supervision of Dr. Jaffe, Nixon introduced urine tests and treatment for entering and the current military. This plan was put into place on June 17th, 171, only six weeks after the plan's initial proposal. In addition of this, Nixon formed the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP) in that same month. The action showed during this time by government officials was a step in the right direction from what used to be the protocol before these new regulations were put into place.…
- 909 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The drug war,created by Nixon in June 1971 created many devastating consequences around the world, including the breaking of families,the skyrocketing of crime rate,and of course some of the worst people in history getting into power.One of the biggest supporter of the drug war Rodrigo Duterte was born into a religious household and the violent city of Davao.Some of the people had nothing but hatred and the people who supported him they has been had,them have been smudged. He was called a monster,liar,and a murder but,now we might another Hitler or another Stalin in the form of Duterte.Men become what his past led him to and he now is another one of the mass killer,but he can possibly become another record breaking killer.…
- 1045 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The 1960s were marked by a plethora of social and political changes, with the counterculture movement being one of the most widely historicized and familiar aspects out of this period. While this movement did contribute to positive changes in some ways, a rise in drug usage amongst young people occurred. Due to the inherent dangers drugs impose on the individual, concerns were raised throughout the country. In response, President Richard Nixon moved to enact legislation hoping to curb drug usage. This initial “war on drugs” was controversial and characterized by very little success.…
- 662 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
As part of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, Marijuana for all purposes was outlawed nationwide. Prior to this Act, over 30 states had prohibition laws towards Marijuana because farmers who employed mainly Hispanic workers complained that this drug would cause people to become “slow” or “lazy” and would also cause the users to become addicted. Besides the popularity among this crowd, marijuana was used as an intoxicant during the 1850’s through the 1930’s and was listed in the United States Pharmacopeia. The active ingredient in marijuana is THC, or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, but this is only one of the 400 other chemicals that are in the plant (TheWELL). It was prescribed for conditions such as labor pain, nausea, arthritis, and rheumatism (DeLisle). It was only after individuals began committing crimes while under the influence of Marijuana that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics gave marijuana the image of a powerful, addicting, substance that would lead users into a more serious addiction. In the 1960s, it was mainly used by college students and “hippies,” and subsequently became a symbol of rebellion against authority. Marijuana use became a commonplace issue in congress which led to The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 which classified marijuana along with LSD and heroin as S1 drugs, otherwise known as substances which have the highest relative abuse potential and no form of medical use (DEA). Widespread eradication of marijuana and marijuana products began.…
- 928 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays