In the history of the US Army, the Vietnam War saw a higher consumption of drugs
than any other previous generation. In just four years between 1966 and 1969,
the active-duty US troops in Vietnam received 225 million doses of speed. This number of uppers
was greater than pills consumed by all U.S. and British combat forces in World War II combined.
Welcome to Nutty History and today let’s look back at what drugs were like during the Vietnam War.
While President Nixon was declaring the ‘War on Drugs’ in 1971, according to a report 51 percent
of the armed forces deployed in Vietnam had smoked grass. 31 percent had consumed psychedelics such
as Chinese Dragons, mescaline , and psilocybin mushrooms, and an additional 28 percent were on
hard drugs such as nose candy and dope. But these were the drugs that US army enlistees
were illicitly buying from the black market. The statistics don’t include the copious amounts of
heavily prescribed pills of speed distributed to them under the auspices of improving their
performance. In addition to Amys, which were used to boost endurance on long missions,
heavy sedatives were also prescribed to help relieve anxiety and prevent mental breakdowns.
And nobody intervened because… it…. was…. working. The rate of mental breakdown in soldiers was down
to 1 percent in Vietnam which was a massive reduction in comparison to the second World War
where about 10 percent of soldiers returned home shell shocked. However, there were other side
effects of these drugs. In his book Shooting Up: A Short History of Drugs and War, author Lukasz
Kamienski argued that jelly babies’ withdrawal could have alleviated the atrocities committed
against Vietnam’s civilian population. The Vietnam war was like a living hell for most of the troops
and strung-out young soldiers may have overreacted when dealing with civilians while coping with
withdrawal issues. Yet, it was the use of illicit drugs in the army that garnered headlines in the
media back home and the rest of the world. Blazing helped some G.I.s take the edge off.
China white smuggled primarily by anti-communist assets in Hong Kong and the Golden Triangle
was cheap, plenty, and was pure enough to smoke. In his public enemy number one speech,
Nixon also blamed these illicit depressants for the not so unexpected outcome of the Vietnam War.
Now, according to the experts on the use of drugs in the modern military, there were
multiple reasons why illicit drugs flourished rampantly in American military camps in Vietnam.
The first reason was obviously the availability, as soldiers invaded villages the grass was easily
obtainable with a crate costing merely five or six dollars or sometimes could be bartered for a few
packs of cigarettes. It is believed that the use of doobies was tolerated in the military at first
and nearly 30% of GIs had tried aunt Mary at least once while being stationed in the southern corps.
But that changed after the exposé piece on the common use of buds among military troops
written by John Steinbeck IV for Washingtonian magazine, published in 1968. The media firestorm
and hyperinflation of statistics forced the military to clamp down on the abuse
of ‘happy cigarettes.’ The scrutiny caused arrests of nearly a thousand G.I.s per week
for possessing Mary j. A joint operation was also conducted with the South Vietnamese troops
to search and destroy hundreds of weed-growing fields. The aftermath of this mission included
“504,795 hemp plants” being destroyed. These farmers were paid a small amount of money,
less than one U.S. cent for every crop that was destroyed on their land. There is also speculation
that this was a covert mission to weed out any guerillas and push villagers into government-run
camps so they could not help Charlies anymore. But this solution created another problem. Like
a hydra, the drug problem reared a new head in response to cutting another. The consequence of
cracking down on Mary greens caused GIs to find a new love in the foreign land, the Big H. Big H or
China White was everything that laughing grass wasn’t, odorless, more potent, and available
through anti-communist assets. Buying from them was like supporting the American cause in the war!
In 1970, the supply for smack began flowing from Cambodia to Vietnam in great quantities.
GIs were able to hide black eagles clandestinely in their tobacco cigarettes and smoke them openly
because of the lack of a distinct fragrance. According to a study, by 1973 up to 20 percent
of soldiers were habitual hell dust users. The authorities were so desperate that they even
considered sanctioning the use of Aunt Mary again to combat the big H issues. An estimated 450,000
U.S. military forces in Vietnam were reportedly using or had tried galloping horses once. Because
of the strict enforcement against smoking grass, China white literally knocked out all of the
competition that the drug could have. Big H was more readily available than buds had ever been.
At first, the US military responded to the drug abuse among troops harshly.
Soldiers who were caught participating in drug activity were subject to court-martial
and the possibility of a dishonorable discharge. As the crackdown spread through all camps,
more and more troops were being sent back to the United States. Among other downsides
of such disciplinary penalties was the fact that it created the risk of habitual users of illicit
drugs bringing these drugs back to the USA with them. As the impending fear of drug addiction
on the home front became clearer and clearer, the US army was forced to drug test returning
GIs to make sure the black eagle couldn’t invade the home of the star-spangled eagle. The whole
process titled Operation Golden Flow was aimed at detecting as many different drugs as possible,
but thanks to the media the big H became the highlight of the scrutiny. According to experts,
an estimation of more than two-thirds of the returning GIs from Vietnam never even touched
the horse once they returned home. However, under all this hullabaloo of illicit drugs, a major
issue subsided, the use of military prescribed drugs. The British philosopher Nick Land aptly
described the Vietnam War as “a decisive point of intersection between pharmacology
and the technology of violence.” Since World War II, little research has determined whether
pep pills had a positive impact on soldiers’ performance. Yet the American soldiers in Vietnam
received ample speed. And they were not just any pep pills, according to veterans, US troops had
the best possible pixies available to them. Only the best for our troops. Doled out like candies,
Dexedrine was almost twice as potent per milligram as the Greatest Generation’s bennies.
Clearly, Forrest Gump was nowhere close to the real super-soldiers who marched through hellfire
in ‘Nam. The annual consumption of Dexedrine per person was 21.1 pills in the navy, 17.5 in the
air force, and 13.8 in the army. Amy would give soldiers a sense of bravado while also keeping
them awake. The sense of sight and sound were heightened and often American soldiers were to
believe that they were invincible. For instance, soldiers in units infiltrating Laos for a four-day
mission received a medical kit that contained 12 tablets of Darvon, a mild painkiller, 24 tablets
of codeine, an opioid analgesic, and six pills of Dexedrine among other items. Before leaving for a
long and demanding expedition, members of special units were also administered steroid injections.
According to studies conducted, nearly 3 percent of soldiers arriving in Vietnam were on a heavy
dosage of bumblebees. But among the soldiers who spent more than a year in the battle zone,
the numbers rose over 5 percent. Veterans of ‘Nam war often blamed the administration for developing
their drug habits and tragic consequences such as increased aggression in their behavior.
Some remembered that when the effect of speed faded away, they were so irritated that they
felt like shooting pedestrians in the streets. As we mentioned earlier to counter the after-effects
of combat stress that was alleviated thanks to speed, soldiers were offered sedatives. Basically,
they were taking more drugs to negate other drugs. The book, On Killing by David Grossman described
that the Vietnam war was the first war in which the forces of modern pharmacology were directed
to empower the battlefield soldier. For the first time in military history, the prescription of
potent antipsychotic drugs like chlorpromazine, under the brand name Thorazine, became routine.
This helped to lower the numbers of mental breakdowns which saw a substantial reduction in
comparison to the numbers of the second world war. But this was not the solution, as now we all know,
the aftermath of the Vietnam war on veteran’s psyche was long-lasting. Thorazine was a
short-sighted solution, just like insulin treats the symptoms of diabetes but not the disease,
Thorazine was merely temporary relief. Moreover, drugs taken without proper psychotherapy only
assuage, suppress, or freeze the problems that remain deeply embedded in the psyche.
Yes, the antidepressant drugs helped to reduce the number of soldiers requiring
medical evacuation because of combat-stress breakdowns. But, by the same token, the army
forces contributed to the unparalleled widespread outbreak of PTSD among veterans in the aftermath
of the conflict. We still do not know precisely how many ‘Nam veterans were suffering from PTSD
but the estimate could be anywhere from forty thousand to one and a half million!
Despite the political rhetoric of using heavy drug usage during the war as an excuse,
experts found scant evidence to support the claim. A study in 1968 concluded that none of the illicit
drugs contributed to the outcome of the war by any means possible. According to some experts,
drug consumption by soldiers was more of a coping mechanism than in any way a performance enhancer
or hindrance. Most soldiers only abused illicit drugs during the lulls in combat,
resting, or while they were on recuperation leave.
But whether these drugs made an impact in the war or not, they sure did leave an impact on
America’s history. Tell us in the comments if someone in your family was a Vietnam war veteran
and if they shared an experience with you. And as always thanks for watching Nutty History.