Vietnam Heroin Epidemic Among Soldiers

In 1968, after an article exposed widespread marijuana use among U.S. soldiers in Vietnam, media uproar in the United States pushed the Army to crack down, and many troops in Vietnam shifted to heroin, which was odorless and harder to detect. By 1973, reports estimated that up to 20 percent of these soldiers were habitual heroin users. Heroin and opium use became widespread as servicemen tried to cope with the war environment, and a 1974 study found that about 43 percent of U.S. servicemen who served in Vietnam had used heroin or opium at least once, with roughly half of them dependent at some point.

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