Barry R. McCaffrey

About the author: Barry R. McCaffrey, a retired four star general in the U.S. Army, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy on February 29, 1996. He is also a member of the National Security Council and the Cabinet Council on Counternarcotics.

The United States has had a long history of opposition to dangerous drugs. The Food and Drug Act of 1906 protected consumers from unsafe medicines, the Opium Exclusion Act of 1909 banned opium, and public outrage resulted in the censorship of drug use in movies. America has entered a new phase in its history of dealing with drugs. Crack cocaine is destroying inner cities, but drug use also has invaded suburban and rural areas. Not only do drugs damage the minds and bodies...