12. A Military Drug Epidemic That Led to Serious Social Problems in the 1970s and Beyond
In response to the military drug epidemic, President Nixon created the Special Action Office of Drug Abuse Prevention. He also ordered further research on military personnel addiction. It revealed that Congressmen Murphy and Steele had been mistaken in their figures. Instead of 15%, the true figure for self-identified addicts in Vietnam was actually 20%. This took place as the US tried to negotiate an exit from the Vietnam War, while it drew down its troops. About 1000 servicemen were sent back home each day, where most were discharged soon thereafter back into civilian life. If the addiction figures were true, it meant that hundreds of active heroin addicts were being released into the US each week. Such a huge influx of hardcore drug addicts created serious social problems in the 1970s and beyond.
Psychologists drafted a plan for the president that entailed radical changes in how the military dealt with addiction. Instead of reliance on courts martial, treatment would be emphasized. And rather than rely on addicts to self-report their drug use in the hope of “amnesty”, widespread urine testing throughout the services should be employed to detect heroin use. Under the new policy, American servicemen in Vietnam who tested positive for heroin were kept in theater under treatment until they dried out, before they were allowed to return home. There, they received further treatment in VA facilities. It was a vast improvement over what had been done 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 finally withdrew completely from Vietnam.