In 1971 President Richard Nixon declared heroin "public enemy number one" (although in 1973 the CIA was apparently still flying opium from Laos to South Vietnam; Posner 1989). American soldiers returning from Vietnam brought the habit back, and it spread. Data from the Internal Revenue Service confirm that drug consumption in the United States more than doubled between 1973 and 1982 (Santino 1988).

XREF: Connects to broader counterculture and Vietnam War histories where returning veterans spread drug habits.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 1032