A veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm with four combat tours of duty during 13 years of overseas service, McCaffrey was the most highly decorated and youngest four-star general in the U.S. Army at the time of his retirement. In this role he creates a national understanding of the nature of the threat from illicit drug use and the importance of resisting drugs at all levels of society. His National Drug Control Strategy focuses on shrinking America's demand for drugs through prevention and treatment, and on attacking the supply of drugs through law enforcement and international cooperation. McCaffrey believes there is no question that drug use and its consequences threaten Americans of every background, geographic region, educational level, and ethnic and racial identity.
Drug use is preventable.
If children reach adulthood without using illegal drugs, alcohol or tobacco, they are unlikely to develop a chemical-dependency problem. To this end, his strategy seeks to involve parents, coaches, mentors, teachers, clergy and other role models in a broad prevention campaign. However, McCaffrey believes that focusing on youth is not enough. We must develop appropriate prevention, early identification and intervention programs for vulnerable young adults as they leave their homes and families to go to college, enter the military, or come into the workplace as full-time employees. We need to treat a large, mostly adult population of more than four million chronic users who constitute a major portion of domestic demand.