Throughout the Vietnam era drugs were popular among the hippie counter culture as well as young soldiers. Many veterans and hippies became addicted to the substances they were using, whether it be heroin, or methamphetamine. One can see that drugs had an impact on both social groups through the analysis of the hippie counter culture and the Vietnam soldiers. During the sixties thousands of people moved to the san Francisco bay area, settling in the north beach district, Berkeley, or the Haight-Ashbury. Among the people who moved were writers, artists, and musicians, and then there were some people seeking an alternative to the religions that their parents had impressed upon them. These kids seeking a spiritual refuge were inspired by the work, the psychedelic experience, depicting the blending of eastern mysticism, Native American rituals and psychedelic drugs. These kids would be called the “hippie movement” or the “Psychedelic drug counter culture” (Wesson). “Most hippies opposed the Vietnam war and the military draft, competitive materialism, and drug laws” (Wesson). Many of the hippies were searching for a lifestyle different from the mainstream, materialistic culture (Wesson). Hippies were antiscience because they did not support the use of science to make military weapons (Wesson). Although the hippies did scorn the Vietnam War, they were not all antiwar activists or pacifist. The main reason they were against the war was because there were subjected to the draft and could be enlisted into the military by “the man”. (Wesson). Although to unite each other under one goal, they held huge gatherings were music was played, speeches were giving, and of course drugs were ingested. One of the gatherings was called the “Human Be-... ... middle of paper ... ..." American Journal On Addictions 19.3 (2010): 212-214. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. LoConto, Stephanie C. "Methamphetamine: the physical effects." Prosecutor, Journal of the National District Attorneys Association Mar.-Apr. 2007: 30+. Academic OneFile. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. Robins, Lee N., et al. "Vietnam Veterans Three Years After Vietnam: How Our Study Changed Our View Of Heroin." American Journal On Addictions 19.3 (2010): 203-211. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. Smith, Tony. "How dangerous is heroin?" British Medical Journal 25 Sept. 1993: 807. Academic OneFile. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. Wesson, Donald R. "Psychedelic drugs, hippie counterculture, speed and phenobarbital treatment of sedative-hypnotic dependence: a journey to the Haight Ashbury in the sixties." Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 43.2 (2011): 153+. Academic OneFile. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
Erika Dyck provides the reader and interesting view of early historical psychological research on LSD, lysergic acid diethyl-amide. This book is composed of Dyck’s scientific interpretation and dissection of earlier psychedelic psychiatry research by Humphry Osmond, and Abraham Hoffer. A Swiss biochemist named Albert Hofmann dissolved a minimal amount of d-lysergic acid diethyl-amide in a glass of water and digested this new synthetic drug in April 1943. Three hours later he begins to feel dizzy and his vision was distorted. Hofmann recollects this as a surreal journey as if what he saw was created by the famous paintings of Salvador Dali unexplained carnivalesque or at some moments even nightmarish hallucinations. The drug began gaining support from pharmaceutical companies as something that can possibly be beneficial for future scientific study. Saskatchewan soon became one of the epicenters harvesting break through biochemical innovation and experimentation with LSD from the 1950s to 1960s.
Psychedelic drugs were an icon of the 1960s, its role embedded within the rising counterculture in response to the economic, social, and political turmoil throughout the United States. As a means to impose a central power and control social order, federal authorities were quick to ban the recreational and medical use of psychedelic drugs without consideration of its potential benefits. The recent state laws on the legalization of marijuana in Oregon and Colorado with others soon to follow, is a sure sign of an eventual collective shift in the perceptions of psychedelic drugs. Not only does Daniel Pinchbeck document his reflections on the personal consumption of psychedelic drugs in his unconventional novel Breaking Open the Head, he also advances several assertions on modern Western society in his exploration of polarized attitudes on this controversial topic.
From the early 1950’s to early 1970’s during U.S. military involvement in Laos, Indochina, opium and heroin were flown by “Air America” into many countries, including Vietnam. As a result of CIA’s drug smuggling, Southeast Asia became the source of 70% of the world’s opium and heroin. South Vietnam was completely corrupted by a heroin trade that came from Laos, thanks to the CIA. The Hmong culture in Laos provided 30,000 men for the CIA's secret Laotian army. But in the process, opium production took over Hmong culture. To support the Hmong economy, the CIA's “Air America” transported raw opium out of the Laotian hills to the labs. By mid-1971, Army medical officers estimated that fifteen percent of American GIs were addicted (Stich 142).
Toates, F. (2010) ‘The nature of addictions: scientific evidence and personal accounts’ in SDK228 The science of the mind: investigating mental health, Book 3, Addictions, Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 1-30.
7. Text to World Connection: The war contributed to veteran soldiers and drugs. Once they return home they have to readapt to another life that they are not used too. Research tested American soldiers in Vietnam for heroin addiction, the results revealed that 40 percent of servicemen had tried heroin and nearly 20 percent were addicted.
With a country in shambles as a result of the Vietnam War, thousands of young men and women took their stand through rallies, protests, and concerts. A large number of young Americans opposed the war; with a common feeling of anti-war, thousands of youths united as one. This new culture of opposition spread like wild fire with alternative lifestyles blossoming, people coming together and reviving their communal efforts, demonstrated in the Woodstock Art and Music festival. The use of drugs, mainly marijuana, became a staple in the community of anti-war youths. The countercultures’ radical views and actions caused American society to turn its head and look to the young. They set themselves out as a group and were going to stand up for their rights as well as the rights of mankind.
One of the Hippie’s foundations was the of the continuous use of illegal drugs and making love to each other. Over 10 years from 1960 when the Hippie’s first started to 1970 more than 8,000,000 people from the ages of 15 to 25 had tried marijuana. This was the main drug of the hippie generation, but was not the only drug used by them. One other main drug used was LSD, some of the Hippie’s thought that LSD “put you in touch ...
Lash, S. J., Timko, C, Curran, G M., McKay, J R., Burden, J L.; (Jun, 2011). Psychology of Addictive Behaviors; Vol 25(2); 238-251. Doi: 10.1037/a0022608
The emergence of the counterculture of the 1960s set off a new wave of music and created an alternative lifestyle. The association of drugs with the counterculture is a limited assumption as drugs were present in the mainstream culture as well. The predecessor of the 60s counterculture, the Beat movement, was not entirely different and it is evident how the Beat lifestyle fostered an environment where the emergent hippie and acid-head culture could take root. Within the drug culture there were splits in ideology, between the Leary and the Kesey groups and the mainstream culture against the counterculture’s use of drugs.
Unlike the society before this movement, the hippie did not try to change America through violence, the hippie tried to change things through peace and love. The Hippie Movement was a moment during the mid 1960s through the early 1070s where sex, drugs and Rock-n-Roll, was at the forefront of mainstream society. No one really knows the true definition of a Hippie, but a formal definition describes the hippie as one who does not conform to social standards, advocating a liberal attitude and lifestyle. Phoebe Thompson wrote, “Being a hippie is a choice of philosophy. Hippies are generally antithetical to structured hierarchies, such as church, government, and social castes. The ultimate goal of the hippie movement is peace, attainable only through love and toleration of the earth and each other. Finally, a hippie needs freedom, both physical freedom to experience life and mental freeness to remain open-minded” (Thompson12-13). Many questions are asked when trying to figure out how this movement reached so many of America’s youth, and what qualities defined a hippie as a hippie?
American society and culture experienced an awakening during the 1960s as a result of the diverse civil rights, economic, and political issues it was faced with. At the center of this revolution was the American hippie, the most peculiar and highly influential figure of the time period. Hippies were vital to the American counterculture, fueling a movement to expand awareness and stretch accepted values. The hippies’ solutions to the problems of institutionalized American society were to either participate in mass protests with their alternative lifestyles and radical beliefs or drop out of society completely.
In the 1960’s something extraordinary happened in American pop culture, thousands and thousands of young people from all over came together to try to make something all their own. The hippie movement of the 1960’s, a time when countless youths decided they would not simply go along with the rest of society when they knew it was wrong. So they created their own system, the way they wanted it to be. This was an important step in giving the younger generation an equal voice and recognition in American society. Because the hippies held onto their ideals in spite of the being constantly treated poorly by the older generation. (Lewis 52) The older
When people hear the term hippie, they think of men and woman in loose clothing with flowers weaved in their hair. Although these men and women did in fact wear these things, they left a significant impact on society. Hippies were a part of the Counterculture movement, which basic ideals were to reject the ideas of mainstream society. The movement itself began with the protesting of the Vietnam War. Eventually, the movement was more than just protesting the war. Hippies promoted the use of recreational drugs, religious tolerance; they also changed society’s views and attitudes about lifestyle and social behavior. The Counterculture movement was the most influential era in the 20th century because the people of this time changed society’s outlook, and broached the topics of drugs, fashion, and sexual freedom.
The sixties was a decade of liberation and revolution, a time of great change and exciting exploration for the generations to come. It was a time of anti-war protests, free love, sit-ins, naked hippie chicks and mind-altering drugs. In big cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Paris, there was a passionate exchange of ideas, fiery protests against the Vietnam War, and a time for love, peace and equality. The coming together of like-minded people from around the world was spontaneous and unstoppable. This group of people, which included writers, musicians, thinkers and tokers, came to be known as the popular counterculture, better known as hippies. The dawning of the Age of Aquarius in the late sixties was more than just a musical orgy. It was a time of spiritual missions to fight for change and everything they believed in. Freedom, love, justice, equality and peace were at the very forefront of this movement (West, 2008). Some wore beads. Some had long hair. Some wore tie-dye and others wore turtle-neck sweaters. The Hippie generation was a wild bunch, to say the least, that opened the cookie jar of possibilities politically, sexually, spiritually and socially to forever be known as one of the most memorable social movements of all time (Hippie Generation, 2003).
Everitt, B. Robbins, T. (1999) Drug addiction: bad habits add up. Macmillian Magazines, volume 389, pg 567-570.