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Dope In The Vietnam War

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Dope. Is it Really? In the wet, cold dark forests of Vietnam, where death lurks behind every corner, soldiers are dejected, depressed, and downright miserable. The cure is simple and easy. Marijuana. It grows exponentially in Vietnam and provides soldiers a mean of escape away from the gruesome war. It keeps the men mellow and focused on their task. They are able to forget, this day to day struggle between life and death and gain strength to continue fighting the battle. In addition to marijuana, soldiers resorted to opiates such as heroin, because of the relatively low price and purity of the illicit drug. It was very rampant among the soldiers. I mean just two bucks would secure a fix of high-grade heroine (Ronk Liz). Similarly, in Tim O’Brien’s …show more content…

Not only did the use of copious drugs by the soldiers in Vietnam lead to the abuse of other drugs, but it also impacted their health, the relationship they had formed with their loved ones and left the future …show more content…

Starting from November 1, 1955, the day the Vietnam War began, the war has brought nothing but pain to the lives of the American Soldiers. They were forced to kill, and witness mass murder of friends and innocent civilians of Vietnam. In order to escape these traumatic experiences, soldiers resorted to drugs. Drugs like marijuana, opiates, amphetamines and barbiturates. According to a study done by professor Lee N. Robins in Washington State University, “38% of enlisted men tried heroin, 38% tried opium and 80% used Marijuana, while in Vietnam (Robins et al., 1970). The use of copious amount of drugs allowed soldiers to forget about their daily experiences and to keep on fighting. In an Interview, one veterans recollects a heart wrenching night that led him to the use of drugs. He says, “During a night ambush I killed a twelve year old kid. It was something I could not handle… seeing him dead, laying on the ground… [It] stayed on my mind. The next morning, I bought drugs,” (The Forgotten Veterans, Richard Kotuk). Traumatic experiences such as this, can really have a negative impact on a person. Being thousands of mile from home, from loved ones, soldiers had to resort to drugs for comfort. They depended on Marijuana, heroin, narcotics, opium … etc to deal with day to day emotionally and physically distressing events. However any

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