War and drugs : the role of military conflict in the development of substance abuse / Dessa K. Bergen-Cico.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bergen-Cico, Dessa K.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Drug traffic--Political aspects--History.

Drug traffic.

Soldiers--Drug use--History.

Soldiers.

Soldiers--Drug use--United States--History.

War and society.

Soldiers--Drug use.

History.

Drug traffic--Political aspects.

United States.

Physical Description:

xvi, 182 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boulder, Colo. : Paradigm Publishers, [2012]

Summary:

War and Drugs explores the relationship between military incursions and substance use and abuse throughout history. From the Opium Wars through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, themes of colonialism, capitalism, and anticommunism have created the current crisis of international drug trafficking and addiction. In addition to offering detailed geopolitical perspectives, this book explores the intergenerational trauma that follows military conflict and the rising tide of substance abuse among veterans, especially from the Vietnam and Iraq-Afghan eras. Addiction specialist Bergen-Cico raises important questions about the past and challenges us to consider new approaches in the future-especially to that longest of U.S. wars: the erstwhile "War on Drugs." Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction

Overview of drugs [as refuge from,] and [tools of,] war

The opium wars and poppy empires

Drugs [as relief from the suffering of] and the Civil War

French connections

High Hitler

World War II

The Cold War was hot for the drug trade

Project Bluebird and MK-Ultra

The Vietnam War and the blowback at home

Mexico's drug war

Chapter11 drugs and the Afghan wars

PTSD and substance abuse among veterans of the Afghan and Iraq wars

Conclusion: the seven generations cost of war.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781594518942

1594518947

9781594518959

1594518955

OCLC:

610855665