The myth of the addicted army: Vietnam and the modern War on Drugs

Drawing on a wide range of archival research, media, legal and cultural sources, as well as personal interviews with veterans and government officials, the "Myth of the Addicted Army: Vietnam and the Modern War on Drugs" focuses on the trans-national roots of U.S. narcotics policy during the Vietnam War era and its international implications. During the 1960s, an explosive public debate emerged in the U.S. surrounding the addiction of American soldiers in Vietnam, which media commentators, social activists and members of both major parties linked to a breakdown in fighting performance. These claims were often inflated for political reasons, particularly among members of the anti-war movement who pointed to the alliance between the Central Intelligence Agency and warlords in the Golden Triangle region implicated in the narcotics traffic. The lone dissent came from military psychiatrists closest to the situation. Under intense political pressure and seeking to deflect attention away from the failure of his foreign policy in Indo-China, President Richard M. Nixon initiated a major escalation of federal drug control efforts both in the domestic and international sphere. The legacy of Vietnam remained salient in fuelling the extension of the modern drug war during the Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations, due in part to the influence of Hollywood films like Apocalypse Now in preserving the myth that rampant drug abuse had contributed to a decline in the military's fighting efficiency and the waning of American global power. The War on Drugs was accordingly embraced through the 1980s and beyond as a pivotal policy-measure capable of protecting vital American security interests and preserving the nation's superpower standing.; "The Myth of the Addicted Army" provides an original perspective in analyzing the historical resonance of the drug issue in the United States, and its link to deeper social anxieties bred by the Vietnam War. Innovative in combining archival research with cultural and media analysis, the thesis further examines the unintended foreign implications of the War on Drugs, which often encountered intense localized opposition and resistance, while exacerbating internecine hostilities and conflict in countries like Colombia, Mexico, Burma (Myanmar) and Peru, in part by arming repressive state policing agents.