Drug Use During the Vietnam Conflict
Drug usage during the Vietnam War era was very common. Many soldiers who were drafted into the army had previously experimented with drugs, and it has been estimated that this included 30% of enlisted soldiers. While the remaining 70% of soldiers may not have ventured into drug use before the war, it became all to easy for them once they entered Vietnam where heroin and opium were easily accessed by the soldiers. The drugs were cheap and pure which enabled soldiers to get high with combining heroin with marijuana, or with tobacco. The issues of drugs during the Vietnam era was significant due to soldiers drug use over the course of the war, the associated drug trade that formed, and the negative after …show more content…
A significant number of troops began to use drugs shortly after arriving at their assigned locations within Vietnam. It was fairly easy to find a supplier for drugs since marijuana was grown all over Vietnam, this in turn made the crop easily accessible to U.S soldiers, and the "go-to" drug for the most of the U.S military population. On the bases where soldiers were stationed, there would be Vietnamese citizens with access that would in turn sell the narcotics to soldiers. The …show more content…
Soldiers would take drugs to calm themselves down because combat put a lot of stress on them. Some soldiers in Vietnam smoked marijuana and took other drugs who would not normally do so at home. A soldier 's friends become extremely important, and new soldiers adhere to the behavior of preexisting members of a group. Marine commander Major Ives W. Neely claimed an "at least 70 to 80 percent" use within his company. Marines would catch a new man as he reported to the unit, and instruct him "that if he was going to buy marijuana, he would buy it from them. If someone one reported on another soldier, "there were ways to do these people in." (Higher). Drugs were a coping mechanism that helped them get by on a day to day basis. There was a major spike in heroin use when the 1970s occurred. Heroin was a cash crop in Vietnam. South Vietnam consists of a coastal plain in the east, a long mountain chain in the west, and in the Mekong delta in the far south. The source of opium lay on the other side of the Annamite Mountains. Opium and
Drug usage during the Vietnam War era was very common. Many soldiers who were drafted into the army had previously experimented with drugs, and it has been estimated that this included 30% of enlisted soldiers. While the remaining 70% of soldiers may not have ventured into drug use before the war, it became all to easy for them once they entered Vietnam where heroin and opium were easily accessed by the soldiers. The drugs were cheap and pure which enabled soldiers to get high with combining heroin with marijuana, or with tobacco. The issues of drugs during the Vietnam era was significant due to soldiers drug use over the course of the war, the associated drug trade that formed, and the negative after …show more content…
A significant number of troops began to use drugs shortly after arriving at their assigned locations within Vietnam. It was fairly easy to find a supplier for drugs since marijuana was grown all over Vietnam, this in turn made the crop easily accessible to U.S soldiers, and the "go-to" drug for the most of the U.S military population. On the bases where soldiers were stationed, there would be Vietnamese citizens with access that would in turn sell the narcotics to soldiers. The …show more content…
Soldiers would take drugs to calm themselves down because combat put a lot of stress on them. Some soldiers in Vietnam smoked marijuana and took other drugs who would not normally do so at home. A soldier 's friends become extremely important, and new soldiers adhere to the behavior of preexisting members of a group. Marine commander Major Ives W. Neely claimed an "at least 70 to 80 percent" use within his company. Marines would catch a new man as he reported to the unit, and instruct him "that if he was going to buy marijuana, he would buy it from them. If someone one reported on another soldier, "there were ways to do these people in." (Higher). Drugs were a coping mechanism that helped them get by on a day to day basis. There was a major spike in heroin use when the 1970s occurred. Heroin was a cash crop in Vietnam. South Vietnam consists of a coastal plain in the east, a long mountain chain in the west, and in the Mekong delta in the far south. The source of opium lay on the other side of the Annamite Mountains. Opium and