Different Day, Same Story (Sort of)
was in high school in the late 1960s when the news began to report on soldiers from the war in Vietnam coming home addicted to heroin. Now, most troops didn’t take heroin but there was enough to make it something to talk about. This may have been the beginning of America’s modern day awareness of heroin addiction.
I remember those days and how the drug seemed so awful, especially because it was associated with injection, crime, and a lifestyle that most of us can’t relate to in the least. Then Hollywood took over and showed us a sometimes realistic and sometimes exaggerated view of heroin use. I’d say we had a very negative view of heroin and everything related to it. I’d also say that I was afraid of the drug and would never have tried it. My reaction then was kind of like the reaction of many kids today with methamphetamine. I saw it as a “dirty” drug.