Asking since this topic rarely seems to come up when discussing Soviet history and its differences with "The West" during the Cold War. Was there an drug scene equivalent to the one in the US and UK during this time or afterward? What was the Soviet state's stance on, for instance, possession of marijuana or LSD? Did citizens' drugs of choice differ from those of their counterparts in the US? How obtainable were illegal drugs? The era I'd like to know about would basically encompass the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Not every question I asked has to be answered. - these would just be details that might illuminate whatever info a historian might provide.
Not a big expert on the Soviets but I'd like to know more. Any info (on this particular subject and any others that might provide some context) would be appreciated. Thanks!
Donald Raleigh's Soviet Baby Boomers references some youths smoking cannabis, it was apparently not hard to come by as it grew like a weed in some areas. I don't recall there being any discussion of harder drug use of things like LSD, though this may partly reflect the people Raleigh interviewed for his study. Most attended fairly high end schools and IIRC most went on to university and though diverse in background they did seem disproportionately from what would probably pass for middle class.
I don't know much about drug culture during the era beyond pop culture references, so perhaps can't really answer that bit properly. I don't get the impression there was anything to the same extent of sort of youth culture movements in the US/UK (I'm thinking like hippies and mods here). Complicating this though was that Soviet youth were often big fans of Western culture (like the Beetles), and where possible would seek to borrow from it. So they may have had some resemblance at times but it was possibly inspired by the West, rather than a result of the same phenomena as in the West if that makes sense.
Alcohol seems to have been the bigger thing with youth, and I'm guessing that would be because it was more readily available and better fit with existing cultural norms. If the adults around you drink, and during celebrations etc. you're encouraged to drink you can see why they might be more inclined to drink.
I don't recall the legal status/reaction to drugs in the USSR, but I can comment on alcohol. 'Good' party members were suppose to abstain or at least not act like drunken fools, and generally there was campaigning to stop people drinking so much. More practical attempts to cut down on alcohol consumption didn't really come until the 1980s with Andropov and later Gorbachev though. Public drunkeness much like in other parts of the world was tolerated by the MVD (police) so long as it didn't create a public nuisance. Semi-related I recall some observations by Robert Hornsby that a lot of 'incidents' were someone started shouting in the street anti-party comments etc. were recorded to be the result of angry/frustrated drunks. That this would be recorded at all perhaps indicates at what point a report would be filed and hence action taken.