The CHAIRMAN. When you moved around on helicopters did you take some narcotics with you? Mr. WHITE. Every once in awhile. I got high, I stayed high. Mr. WHITE. More or less I did. The band did on a whole. Some people in the band got busted, the drummer, the white people in the band everybody white in the band got busted and everybody black got away. So they sent me back to the field. So they thought I was going to the field-I didn't go to the field. I had contacts with the VC and people. I got in this thing and got some papers and I went to Saigon and worked there in the drug line and I was singing in the band there again but I was more or less illegal. I wasn't doing it for the troops; I was doing it to make my own bit of money, you know. So the main thing that made me stop using drugs was that I got a letter from a girl. I kept getting letters from her. I realized, well, I had to go home one day, you know, what will I do when I go back home? I said, man, I don't want to be doing this dope all my life. I was thinking about stopping because they had withdrawal programs and if you decide to quit drugs, stop shooting drugs, we had to go to the hospital and kick it the hard way. The CHAIRMAN. Cold turkey? Mr. WHITE. Cold turkey in the hospital. The CHAIRMAN. Did you go to a hospital in Saigon? Mr. WHITE. Yes, I went to a hospital in Saigon and I had dope over there and I saw a colonel over there and I told the colonel, I said, colonel, I'm a dope addict. I am not a junkie now. I have been an addict. I have been good at it. I am a professional addict, you know. I have been shooting dope seven times a day. The CHAIRMAN. Seven times a day? Mr. WHITE. I had been getting down often. I said, doctor, I'm sick and I'm turning myself over to the hospital. I'm telling you because I want to kick the habit; I want you to try to help me. They tried. They put me in a ward and they took all the drugs away from me. Put me in a ward and said for me to try to kick it and do the best I could. I tried it the hard way for about 2 months and I just escaped The CHAIRMAN. While you were trying to kick it the hard way they prescribe narcotics to ease you? Mr. WHITE. No; they didn't have any medicine. The CHAIRMAN. No medicine? You took no medicine? did Mr. WHITE. No, no medicine whatsoever. I took something for nerves. This is where your nerves-muscle relaxants to relax your muscles. This is what they gave me and they gave me so much of this I became allergic to it. The CHAIRMAN. Were you in the hospital for 2 months in Saigon, towards the end of your tour? Mr. WHITE. Yes. I became sick and they gave me 10-percent disability. The CHAIRMAN. And then you were transferred to the hospital in Georgia? Mr. WHITE. Yes. I stayed in the hospital there from September 22 until December 22. The CHAIRMAN. 1970? Mr. WHITE. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Was your hospitalization by reason of the fact that you were a narcotics addict? Mr. WHITE. No. They said it was more or less nerves because the doctor didn't want to say it was more or less drugs because I had stopped using drugs. I had been locked up in the hospital all this time; I didn't have a chance to get no drugs, you know. But when I was in the ward The CHAIRMAN. Was it a psychiatric ward? Mr. WHITE. Yes; a psychiatric ward in Georgia. I got back to using drugs again. The CHAIRMAN. Down in the hospital in Georgia? Mr. WHITE. Yes. Started with drugs again. The CHAIRMAN. How did you get the drugs there? Did you go town? Mr. WHITE. I had ways, you know. The CHAIRMAN. Different ways? Mr. WHITE. Different ways. The CHAIRMAN. Is it tough to get drugs? in Mr. WHITE. No; it was never tough. It's never tough to get drugs if you want them bad enough. The CHAIRMAN. How did you pay for them? Mr. WHITE. I didn't really have to pay for them. I had people-I knew people. I always knew people who would just finance me more or less, you know. The CHAIRMAN. Were they financing you more or less because you not only purchased for them but did you sell? Mr. WHITE. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. In Georgia? Mr. WHITE. Yes. And then friends of mine, too, they were doing me a favor-I guess they thought they were. They were doing me more harm than a favor really. The CHAIRMAN. All the money you made in Vietnam when you were selling, what did you do with that? How did you blow it? Mr. WHITE. Bought clothes. The CHAIRMAN. When you came back Mr. WHITE. Tried to buy a car but they said I had too much money. They wouldn't let me buy a car. The CHAIRMAN. Did you bring a pretty good hunk of change with you? Mr. WHITE. I brought back some money. The CHAIRMAN. Did you blow that down in Georgia? Mr. WHITE. No; I didn't blow it all. I didn't blow it all. The CHAIRMAN. Not even now? Mr. WHITE. Not even now. I'm poor now but, believe me, I'm definitely poor and I am looking for a job. The CHAIRMAN. Are you getting unemployment compensation now? Mr. WHITE. I am getting unemployment, $50 a week, but that's not nothing. The CHAIRMAN. $50 a week? Mr. WHITE. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. How many weeks have you been on unemployment? Mr. WHITE. Three or four weeks now. I don't know. You know, I really don't worry about the people too much, because, like I said, I have been militant toward the service for many reasons. When I came in the service in basic training at Fort Bragg I was branded. By this I mean I was a Panther from 1966 to 1968. The CHAIRMAN. You were a Panther? Mr. WHITE. Yes. And I was in the riots and all that. The CHAIRMAN. In Greensboro? Mr. WHITE. Yes; in Greensboro. And this is where the riots started at the time Martin Luther King was killed. So I was branded when I came in the service in basic training. They heard I had ROTC so they made me a platoon guide. The CHAIRMAN. Were many Panthers in ROTC? Mr. WHITE. I mean, in ROTC-I went in the service and I was in basic training. They thought very highly of me. I was in good physical condition, ran harder than anybody else. They made me a platoon guide; they put me in charge of everybody and in fact I was the first black GI they ever seen sing for graduation at Fort Bragg, N.C. I sang a rock and roll song-the Colonel heard me sing when I was in basic training and they had me sing a hymn for graduation. But I got busted because they found out I was a Panther and they found cookies in my boot. They said because I had cookies I couldn't be a platoon guide. The CHAIRMAN. What did they find? Mr. WHITE. Cookies. You are not supposed to be eating cookies while you are a platoon guide, eating sweets in basic training. So, really, they found I smuggled candy to my brothers in the company, which is true. I got them candy. So I had to give them a little bit of slack, too, so I let them go the PX; I told them to go ahead and go; I'll cover for you. So I lost my stripes. Then I became one of the regular few, a common GI. The CHAIRMAN. When you were discharged from the service in February 1971, down there in Georgia at that hospital, you were using narcotics at the time you were discharged? Mr. WHITE. That is correct. No. No. The CHAIRMAN. No? Mr. WHITE. No. The CHAIRMAN. How did you kick it down there? Even temporary cold turkey. Mr. WHITE. I just kicked it cold turkey. The CHAIRMAN. And came back up here? Mr. WHITE. Yes. And I'm telling something, Mr. Eagleton, junkies in D.C.-I told Mr. Washington here about brothers and white cats out in the streets, 14th Street and everywhere in D.C., they tell me "Man, I'm sick." and they tell me they are sick from being drug addicts and I read about the Nixon program and how everybody coming for urinalysis-everybody coming back. But I'll tell you, the Congress and Mr. Nixon, when you shoot the dope in Vietnam and you get sick and you ain't got no Methadone to come down off of. It is not like getting sick, when you get sick and can't walk, and that is the way you get sick in Vietnam because you are shooting 90 percent pure dope. You get sick, can't walk and stand up and you see I am getting so bad. My face was so skinny; I couldn't stand up. The sergeants had to carry me from one hospital to another and when I escaped I was crawling away. My girl friend was Vietnamese; she came in the hospital with more Vietnamese and broke me out of the hospital, gave me dope and got me in the hospital then. I told them I couldn't stand to kick this cold turkey; it was just too much, because I was too sick, man. And they say they are sick, have stomach cramps. That's not sick; they don't know what sick-they're lucky in the United States, they haven't got the dope. The CHAIRMAN. It's 90 percent pure there? Mr. WHITE. Yes. But it is trash here. I don't even know how they get strung out here. I don't know how a person can call himself a junkie. They don't know what it is to be a junkie. They don't know what it is to be sick, man, because I didn't have no Methadone. If people wonder how I kicked it, maybe I don't know. Maybe the monkey will still be on my back. The CHAIRMAN. When you came back to the District and started using drugs again-even the trash? Mr. WHITE. I was, what the junkies call chipping. And chipping is every once in a while. Maybe once a month, you know. They call that chipping. So I was chipping. The CHAIRMAN. You did that for awhile and finally got into the Methadone program, right? Mr. WHITE. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. That's Dr. DuPont's program here in the District? Mr. WHITE. Yes. That's the Methadone maintenance program. I don't want to be strung out on Methadone; it's just like dope. The CHAIRMAN. How long have you been in this veterans' Methadone program? Mr. WHITE. About 3, 4 weeks now. The CHAIRMAN. Three or four weeks? Mr. WHITE. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. How often did you get a shot of Methadone? Mr. WHITE. You go three times a week. And you don't get a shot. The CHAIRMAN. Pills? Mr. WHITE. Pills; and it's not like I was telling Mr. Washington this morning here, Methadone is not like it used to be. I did research on Methadone and found Methadone you can shoot Methadone, you know, but they are putting it out in that type of form you can't shoot it no more because it is illegal. The CHAIRMAN. And you can't even when you dilute it? Mr. WHITE. I don't care if you crush it a thousand times it is not going to cook up; it is not going to shoot. All you can do is take a swallow. The CHAIRMAN. Three times a week? Mr. WHITE. Yes. But still it is addiction, you know. The CHAIRMAN. During these three and a half weeks you have been taking these Methadone pills three times a week, have you done any chipping? Mr. WHITE. No. Because one of the reasons I haven't is because people talk to me about jobs. Like my brother, Mr. Washington, was telling me-tell him what you think about doing. And so I am trying to keep myself together. Believe me, I have faith in him and have faith in myself and have faith that ain't even worth it, you know. The CHAIRMAN. Have you been looking for a job in this three and a half weeks you have been on Methadone or taking pills? Mr. WHITE. Yes; I have been out. I have been to the Smithsonian Institute. The CHAIRMAN. Seeking a job? Mr. WHITE. Seeking a job. I didn't tell him. The CHAIRMAN. You didn't tell him you were on Methadone? Mr. WHITE. No. You crazy? Excuse me. I can't, man, you know. I couldn't get a job. Somebody hears about this they would-I don't care really, but the fact is, you know, I am going to make it some way even if I don't get no job and have to go back to dealing dope. I guess they know me now. They say we are going to watch this cat, we are busting him. I hate to go back to that; I hate to go back to shooting dope but I may have to go back to it. But believe me things are getting so down for the veterans, they can't find no jobs and can't find no employment and more of them are hung up on drugs than you think. When they come back they are going to go back to drugs. When they get to California they look for a fix. I have friends leaving Nam. Remember, I was supporting a whole lot of peoples' habits. They were leaving at Cameron Bay, leaving, and they were saying "What am I going to do?" They call me in D.C. and say “What am I going to do when I get to the States?" I say "I don't know what you are going to do, man." I say "Go to New York. Maybe you can get some dope there. I don't know what you are going to do." They get back and they get sick, you know. They start shooting this garbage here, then they think they're strung out here. They aren't strung out, they are just sick all the while. See what I'm saying? They're so sick physically they don't want to get no job. They say they want a job but they're so sick and so weak physically that they can't get out and get a job. Some veterans go to the VA hospital; they say you will find drugs at the VA hospital, go check them out there. There are veterans there and they really don't care. They just say the hell with the whole deal. The CHAIRMAN. As you sit here today it is your inclination that you won't go back to using narcotics but if you don't use drugs do you think you might go back to selling? Mr. WHITE. Well, if you, Mr. Eagleton, was to give me a ticket to go back to Vietnam, a free plane ticket, I would take it and I would go back to Vietnam. The CHAIRMAN. If I gave you a free plane ticket you would go back to Vietnam as a civilian? Mr. WHITE. As a civilian. The CHAIRMAN. And get in the business? Mr. WHITE. Unfortunately, I wouldn't. The CHAIRMAN. Why would you go back there as a civilian? Mr. WHITE. I would try to help President Nixon, when he thinks he is trying to help the people out there. By this I mean-the people in World Wars I and II, the people in the Korean conflict, the E6 and E7 can't take no junkie leaving Nam. We've got you, you are an addict; you have probably been using dope. They can't help that person kick dope. They don't know what dope is. They have it there: they have not had an experience of using it. They haven't lived with it everyday, smoking marihuana. They can't rap to that cat and say "Well, brother, I'm telling it like it is because I have been in Nam. too." They said you've been in Nam but you haven't been where it's at. I have. I have. |