Fast Facts About the War on Drugs - HISTORY

Check out 9 things to know about drug use and trafficking in America.

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Through his Ask Steve video, Steve Gillon explains the reasons for the increasing drug use among young people in the 1960's. This new generation tried to define themselves through music, sex, and drug use. So many young people in the 1960's experimented with drugs because of the desire to drive their parents crazy, and to try to define themselves differently than their parent's generation. These young people were also getting permission to experiment with drugs from authority figures. For example, psychologist Timothy Leary told young people to "Tune in, turn on, and drop out", and urged them to try LSD. In 1966, about 1 million young people had experimented with LSD. However, the drug of choice was marijuana, with about 30% of young people having experimented with it by the end of the decade. Although these young people experimented with drugs, most of the drugs done in the 1960's were prescribed drugs and taken by this generation's parents. Thus, this generation was not that much different from their parents after all.

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