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Yes, there was drug use in Korea - but
certainly no where even close to what happened in Vietnam, and it was
most likely among non-combat troops. Still, benzadrine is a drug and that
does technically count as drug use. If one wants to use "drug-use" at its
most precise alcohol and cigarettes also count. But, I don't think
most of us think of those things when we think of drug use. There is
anecdotal evidence of marijuana use, and of abuse of things like prescription
cough syrups, and of the occassional sorry medic who managed to provide
morphine to people for recreational use. There were also a number of
what medical researchers call "fatal narcotism" during the Korean War in
the Far East. Although only some of the details have been published
it's clear that while most of those deaths were in Japan, some of them were in
Korea.
There was also drug use at home - just as there
always had been. Which drug, and how people treated you depended upon your
social status, but it was there. There are several studies of drug use in
America currently available. Consider those by a woman named Jonnes and
others by David Courtwright if anyone wants to do some reading on the history of
narcotics use.
Janet
"Well behaved women rarely make
history"
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich |