How common was drug abuse and related deaths in the USA during the conservative 1950s?
Upvote:4
Two short answers:
1) By today's standards, "not a lot."
2) By the standards of the preceding decades, "a lot." That's because the 1950s represented the "dawn" of today's drug culture.
"Conservative 1950s" describes only the adult culture of the time. That's because the adults had lived through the deprivations of the the Great Depression, and the hardships of World War II, and didn't want to "rock the boat." But in their heart of hearts, they strove, and succeeded in providing less "deprived" childhoods for their children.
These children responded by creating a looser, wilder, subculture. It exploded in the 1960s when these children became young adults, but this was "incubated" in the 1950s. These children were mentored by a handful of "countercultural" adults of their parents' age called the Beat Generation, sometimes referred to as "Beatniks." According to Wikipedia:
"Central elements of Beat culture are rejection of standard narrative values, spiritual quest, exploration of American and Eastern religions, rejection of materialism, explicit portrayals of the human condition, experimentation with psychedelic drugs, and sexual liberation and exploration."
That's why the drug culture, as we know it today, got started in the 1950s. It was produced by what John Kenneth Galbraith called the "Affluent Society," which started after World War II in America, and continued with minor interruptions (1973-74, 1979-82, 2008-2009) to this day.
The drug culture was shared in Europe, with a time lag, because Europe also shared in the American affluent society. Asian countries didn't "catch up" with regard to affluence and drug use until much later.
Upvote:5
Well, drugs and drug abuse has been around since the beginning of man, of that I am positive. In the Victorian era, for instance, addiction to laudanum was a major thing. Mary Todd Lincoln (the First Lady) was said to have been so addicted.
As far as the American 50's, according to a blog I read the wide-spread drug abuse of the 60's was the direct result of the behind-the-scenes drug use of the 50's. The Beat Generation (aka Beatnicks) were the abusers of the 50s.
WWII caused a boom in the development of pain killers. The drugs of choice of the 50s appear to have been Marijuana, Heroin and LSD. Their main usage demographics, however, were mostly inner-city and the so-called Jazz-scene.
The blog is pretty enlightening and finished with several citations. Well worth a read.
My Google search terms used here was "drug use in the 50s"
Upvote:7
In the 1950s, drug abuse took place day and night in millions of middle-class bathrooms. The medicine cabinets of average white Americans featured dangerous, highly addictive, 100% legal drugs prescribed by the family doctor. By the time "bennies" and "black beauties" helped destroy Montgomery Clift and Judy Garland, and well before Seconal and Nembutal did for Marilyn Monroe, many a good suburban host was expected to have something much kickier than Miltown for guests suffering vapors or insomnia.
For a start, see this chart - from an article on Pub Med.
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