The Impact of the Vietnam War’s Drug Epidemic Extended to the US as a Whole
In the early 1970s, about 1000 servicemen were sent home from Vietnam each day. Most were swiftly processed out of the military and discharged soon thereafter back into civilian life. In light of the 20% addiction figures, it meant that hundreds of active heroin addicts were released into the US each week. Such an influx of addicts was bound to create serious social problems. So psychologists drafted a plan that entailed radical changes in how the military dealt with addiction. Instead of courts martial, the emphasis shifted to treatment.
Rather than rely on addicts to self-report their drug use in the hope of “amnesty”, widespread urine tests were employed to detect heroin use. Under the new policy, servicemen in Vietnam who tested positive for heroin were kept in theater under treatment until they dried out, before they returned to America. There, they were subjected to further treatment in VA facilities. It was a vast improvement over what had gone before, and the relapse rate among those who underwent such treatment was a relatively low 5%. The problem was not finally contained until years later, after the US withdrew completely from Vietnam.
