Drugs have been influencing the ideas, culture, and music of America for ages. Illicit narcotics have left the Union in a state of immense debt. Anti-drug policies have been dumping billions upon billions of dollars in prevention, punishment, and rehabilitation. From the roaring twenties, to the prohibition, drugs have always been fought (Bailey). Most times, the drugs start off as medicines and end up being harmful (Morris). Perhaps, the most prominent and influential eras of drug use in America are the two decades of the 60’s and twenty years later, the 80’s. It may very well be that these two decades molded America into what it is now. The sixties had a huge pull from conservative America of the post-war era. Vietnam veterans were returning home with heroin addictions, the counterculture was spreading their free love, and the music festivals were introducing millions of people into the new America. The sixties was the first decade that made non-alcoholic drug use popular among young people. When it first dawned that drugs were going to be a big political debate, many representatives, like Nixon, made some the first anti-drug policies since Wilson. And though LSD was created much earlier, “acid” as it was called, became widespread in specific sects of America. The eighties had Ronald Reagan’s war on drugs, the crack epidemic in major cities, and the Columbian cartels’ emergence as a threat. Kingpin “freeway Ricky Ross” made his debut in the eighties and organized an empire solely on drugs. Ad campaigns featuring the first lady, Nancy Reagan, were launched in an attempt to have kids “just say no,” and “nope to dope” (Martin). The crack epidemic hit so hard, that many conspiracy theories stating that the CIA was sending crack... ... middle of paper ... ...ore careful as to whom they slept with and they were surer to be wearing protection in the form of condoms. Nobody knew where AIDS was coming from, but it was blamed on the gay community. It was assumed that if you were gay you had AIDS, and vice-versa. This mindset kick started the first major gay rights movements in America. These movements did not gain much traction, but they left a lasting impression that is felt today. The movements of the eighties were a stepping stone for today’s movements for gay marriage and anti discrimination laws. Cocaine has indirectly led to gay rights. With drugs impacting America so much, it’s hard to imagine an America without them. Maybe America wouldn’t be in debt; however, the same could be achieved by not dumping billions of dollars into the DEA. America has been forever impacted by the counterculture, and the war on drugs.
The 1960’s was a radical decade filled with political tensions, social strife, and overall cultural intrigue. The beginning of the decade allowed for the transition from President Eisenhower to President Kennedy, the youngest President to take office, and the first Roman Catholic. The move represented a shift from a Republican to Democratic administration in the Oval Office. Kennedy became a symbol for the young vibrancy of the American populous, as he was quickly accepted by the grand majority. After Kennedy was assassinated and Lyndon B. Johnson took office, the nation was further engulfed in the war that would come to define America for years to come. The Republican Party regained office as Richard Nixon was elected in his second attempt to run as the decade came to a close. Activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X paved the way for the civil rights movement that swept the nation and captivated the spirit of not only black Americans, but white Americans as well. The race between the United States of America and The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for domination of space escalated as Kennedy pushed for a man on the moon by the close of the decade, achieved in 1969. The possibility of nuclear war became all too real in 1962 as the launch of nuclear missiles became an abundantly clear possibility. The drug culture emerged in the 1960’s in large part due to the newfound accessibility of illegal drugs, such as marijuana and Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, or LSD. American society was entrenched in the chaotic desire for new, improved highs. The profound ascent of the drug culture was truly realized when the 3-day music festival, Woodstock, took place in 1969, as “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll” symbolized America’s...
In one portion of the documentary, we see an excerpt from one of President Richard Nixon’s speeches on how he feels about America’s ongoing battle with drug abuse. In the speech, he declared that this so called “war” with drug addiction needed to be handled while proclaiming that drug abuse was “America’s public enemy number one”. Years later, the war on drugs has only become even more of a controversial issue in the United States with the consequences spanning and reaching particular groups and hinting that they are more so involved than others.
One of the main themes in That 70’s show is that the show addresses many of the social issues of the 1970’s. These issues include the following prejudice, sexual attitudes, generational issues, the money-making hardships of the 1970’s downturn, suspicion of the American government by blue-collar workers, and the main one that will be focused on in this paper teenage drug use and the use of alcohol. Throughout the series of That 70’s show the main characters are often seen either smoking marijuana or doing other types of drugs. They do not show the characters doing these things directly however, an audience member can tell that they are using these drugs or smoking. Throughout the paper famous examples from the show will be mentioned especially how the characters don’t actually show the audience they are either smoking or taking drugs.
Despite the negative portrayal in mainstream 1960s media, justifications expressed by counterculture activists for further investigation, education and experimentation under government control of LSD were rational and valid arguments. Sex, drugs, protests, war, political upheaval, cultural chaos, and social rebellion; the many comforts TV dinner eating, republican voting, church going, suburbia conformists tried to escape through conservative ideals, town meetings, and The Andy Williams Family Hour. National consciousness in 1960s United States was alive, but existed differently in every mind it dwelled, and stirred uninterrupted in every life to which it was introduced. A dream of money, success, and a house with a white picket fence still existed within the pandemonium of the nation and many still relished in the idea of “Americanism.” Television was a base for a magnitude of world news and national information. Television situation comedies created ideal families and contenting distractions from unsettling national realities. Mainstream media, both fact and fiction, influenced the nation’s minds resulting in the effect of political change and further media influence over the government. The new decade, along with the effects of the Vietnam War and the strong influence of television, began to leak from the cracks of the nation a new counterculture of rebellious teenagers, unfamiliar narcotics, and a wave of promiscuity. Among the many issues and events molding our nation into a new decade, came the question of government and mind control. For some it was the next step into human evolution, a potential tool for mind control, a liberator of human kind, but for most LSD helped define 1960s counterculture, in which it was deeply rooted.
As a result of the discovery of AIDS, the gay community suffered greatly at the hands of social alienation. “AIDS” was not called “AIDS” until the CDC changed the different name that singled out the gay community as the only ones that could acquire the disease. After some major controversy the gay bathhouses were closed down, because it was believed that the AIDS virus was spreading greatly in these places. The gay community also suffered major emotional trauma as very little was known of the disease and little could be done about it. ___
The general mindset of the 1960’s San Francisco scene is well summarized by Reebee Garafalo in his book Rockin’ Out: Popular Music in the USA when he states: “For the counterculture, the focus on mind-expanding drugs seemed to offer the possibility of greater self-awareness and consciousness, which would in turn lead to a world without war, competition, or regimentation.” The concept of expanding the mind in order to achieve a peaceful, utopian world naturally lends itself to the consumption of drugs. The image of half naked, marijuana smoking hippies dancing around in the park comes to mind when one thinks of the late 60’s Haight-Ashbury scene. Drugs help tremendously in creating an altered state, making one oblivious to the outside world. A great deal of the music was preaching peace, love,...
The War on Drugs is believed to help with many problems in today’s society such as realizing the rise of crime rates and the uprooting of violent offenders and drug kingpin. Michelle Alexander explains that the War on Drugs is a new way to control society much like how Jim Crow did after the Civil War. There are many misconceptions about the War on Drugs; commonly people believe that it’s helping society with getting rid of those who are dangerous to the general public. The War on Drugs is similar to Jim Crow by hiding the real intention behind Mass Incarceration of people of color. The War on Drugs is used to take away rights of those who get incarcerated. When they plead guilty, they will lose their right to vote and have to check application
Hippies were known for their large amounts of drug consumption and at the time the anti- war movement contained a bulk amount of younger people. In the 60’s, drugs were not seen as corrupt or as a threat. They were seen as a cure for disease. Specifically, drugs were seen as pain relievers, they help with sleeping, they lessened worry, etc (Hippies and drugs). Also, in the 50’s, there was lots of cigarette use. Citizens did not know the influence cigarettes’ had, causing people in the 60‘s to naturally not realize how unacceptable drugs were. Additionally, hippies mostly used hallucinogenic drugs, particularly marijuana and lysergic acid diethyl amide (LSD). In the article “Hippies,” it mentions how hippies were “justifying the practice as a way of expanding consciousness” (hippies). Moreover, hippies undertook the largest drug use in human history that was completely uncontrolled (Hippies and drugs). Youthful people were exposed to the kind of b...
Robison, Jennifer. “Decades of Drug Use: Data from the '60s and'70s.” 2 July 2002. Gallup, Inc. 28 March 2011.
Drug usage demonstrated how Americans lived a rebellious life style. Drugs would be used for medical and non-medical reasons. Consequences of the unbridled use of drugs cannot be measured precisely (The Sixties in America). This displayed how Americans no longer were concerned about the consequences for their actions. Drugs can take a big toll on one’s body if over used too much. During the 60s, non-medical consumptions tended to be confined largely to the artistic and minority communities (the Sixties in America). With many citizens in poverty, they would reach out to drugs as a method to get their minds off of their circumstances. Artist would use drugs as a way to further enhance their ideas for an artistic demonstration. Drug consumptions woul...
In the 1960s, “hippie” culture and the use of hallucinogenic drugs, in particular LSD, became...
There was hard times in the 1960s when drug use was a huge dilemma to the United States of America. Though at the same time of this dilemma, the Vietnam war was also a big problem which boosted the use of such drugs. Marijuana, Heroin, and LSD was a problem in the 1960s due to the suffering of the Vietnam war, the little information on drugs, and the experimentation of such drugs.
I. Thesis and Literature Summary In our contemporary society, the media constantly bombards us with horror stories about drugs like crack cocaine. From them, and probably from no other source, we learn that crack is immediately addictive; in every case, we learn that it causes corruption, crazed violence, and almost always leads to death. The government tells us that we are busy fighting a war on drugs and so it gives us various iconic models to despise and detest : we learn to stereotype inner-city minorities as being of drug-infested wastelands and we learn to "witchhunt" drug users within our own communities under the belief that they represent moral sin and pure evil. I believe that these titles and ideals are preposterous and based entirely upon unnecessary and even detrimental ideals promoted by the government to achieve purposes other than those they claim.
The "War on Drugs" Palo Alto: Mayfield, 1986. Kennedy, X.J., Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron, eds. The Bedford Reader. 6th ed. of the book.
Drug use and abuse is as old as mankind itself. Human beings have always had a desire to eat or drink substances that make them feel relaxed, stimulated, or euphoric. Humans have used drugs of one sort or another for thousands of years. Wine was used at least from the time of the early Egyptians; narcotics from 4000 B.C.; and medicinal use of marijuana has been dated to 2737 BC in China.