Abstract

CALADO, Vasco Gil. Drugs in combat: uses and meanings of psychoactive substances in the Portuguese Colonial War. Etnográfica [online]. 2016, vol.20, n.3, pp.471-494. ISSN 0873-6561.

This paper presents the latest conclusions of an ongoing research on the use of psychoactive substances in the Portuguese Colonial War (1961-1974). The key aspects that emerge in the narratives of the former soldiers about their own war experience are identified. These aspects contextualize a set of practices, among them the use of legal and illegal drugs. Collected data show that the use of cannabis and the abuse of alcohol by Portuguese soldiers during this war was widespread, at the time when the first war-on-drugs initiatives were carried out in Portugal. The use of both alcoholic beverages and cannabis was, as research reveals, a way of dealing with anxiety and everyday violence.

Keywords : psychoactive substances; Portuguese Colonial War; war experience; alcohol; cannabis.

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