I was never into drugs in college, but there were potheads with much better GPAs than mine. Of course, there were also potheads who lost control of their habit and flunked out. Being a pothead won't help you accomplish anything, and if anything it's an impediment, but some people are able to manage their lives productively even while getting high, and the private sector understands that. As McCaffrey writes and publishes his book, the odds are that at least one of the people in the production or promotion has either used or uses illegal drugs, and McCaffrey won't be able to tell the difference. This is part of the dissonance between the government's strategy to fight drug use and the real-life experiences of people who use drugs.
Drugs can ruin or end lives, but they don t always, just like alcohol or cigarettes.
Common sense will see through the hard sell every time. Perhaps if Gen. McCaffrey had spent some time in the private sector he would have learned that the government's pitch doesn't make sense to the general public. A successful drug czar must be honest with Americans about the potential dangers of drug use instead of bullying them with horror stories and apocalyptic rhetoric. A successful drug czar should work to preserve individual liberties first and advocate nondiscriminatory enforcement of the laws. If the American people aren't yet willing to drop the War on Drugs yet, at least it should be fought honestly and fairly.