The men sent to Vietnam had either been drafted or had enlisted. Toward the end of the war, when drug use in the United States was highest, draftees were chosen by a lottery designed to make selection less susceptible to social-class biases. This produced draftees who were a reasonably representative sample of young American men. Those who enlisted voluntarily, however, who made up about 40 percent of the armed forces, were disproportionately school dropouts. Many of them enlisted before reaching draftable age because of their limited occupational opportunities. They also arrived in Vietnam with considerably more drug experience than the draftees.
Men who were sent to Vietnam before 1969 found marijuana plentiful but little else in the way of illicit drugs (Stanton, 1976). Some amphetamines were available—in part, because the military issued them to help men stay alert on reconnaissance missions. In 1969, heroin and opium began to arrive on the scene, and by 1970-1971 these opiates were very widely available. Marijuana was still the most commonly used illicit drug, but opiates outstripped amphetamines and barbiturates in availability. Heroin and opium were relatively cheap and very pure, so pure that the soldiers could get ample effect by smoking heroin in combination with tobacco or marijuana. This made opiates appealing to men who would have been reluctant to inject them.
The standard tour of duty for Vietnam soldiers was twelve months. Drug use typically began soon after arrival in Vietnam, showing that it was not at all difficult to find a supplier. Older men used less than younger soldiers, career soldiers less than those serving their first term. Drug experience before induction was a powerful predictor of use in Vietnam (Robins et al., 1980). Essentially all those with drug experience before enlistment used drugs in Vietnam. Of course, there were also some soldiers who used drugs there for the first time.
One interesting observation was that men who drank alcohol in Vietnam tended not to use opiates, and opiate users tended not to drink (Wish et al., 1979). This is a very different pattern from the one seen in the same men both before and after Vietnam, when drinkers were much more likely to use illicit drugs than abstainers.

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Director:
G.F. Morini

D.P.:
Jan Odenthal

Gaffer:
Eva "i love it" Soto

Boom:
Filippo M. Prandi

Editor & 3D Titles:
G.F. Morini

Soundtrack:
Proxy - 40 Seconds [Turbo Records]
Justice - Guide To Planisphere (Culture Prophet rmx) [White Label]

Produced by New York Film Academy 2008