I don’t see simple answers, and do not consider myself to be an expert at treating substance abuse problems. Once a person becomes dependent on a drug in order to feel normal, there are different dynamics from those involved in starting unwise drug use. Starting unwise drug use is what I am writing about here.

After many years of working with teens as a psychologist in schools, a residential treatment program, and consulting with juvenile probation, I do see some patterns that might lead us toward answers. The answers will require significant social change, not just repression strategies such as making and enforcing new laws. There are serious problems involving both legal and illegal drugs in our society, and those problems are not limited to young people.

Here are some contributing factors to the problems of drug abuse by young people:

They are offered little in the way of significant contributing roles in society. We offer even our better-off youth little responsibility except to do their homework, clean their room, don’t aggravate their parents, and become eager consumers of goods and services.

Some attributes such as being poor, gay, and-or of a racial minority lead to feelings of being devalued and having lowered chances of having a good life.

Adolescents start to share the perception that most adults have – that we have no real voice in our “democracy” – that the will and needs of most people are over-ridden by the arrogance and greed of the rich and powerful – and that the future does not look promising because of that. Too many say “So why bother?” Instead of engaging with reality, they may withdraw into escapes.

Some of our laws regarding drugs are seen by many young people as irrational, inconsistent and hypocritical.

Let me take those one by one.

1. Plenty of research confirms that to the extent a person believes happiness is based on getting more stuff – whether goods or services – that person is less likely to be happy. (This assumes that basic needs such as food, shelter and health care are met.) Yet our whole economy is dependent on persuading people that they need to get more and still more stuff and indulge themselves more in luxuries. A result is that though we are the country living highest on the hog, surveys show us to be far less happy on average than many other countries. Being a good consumer is not a satisfying way to be part of society. Things leading to higher satisfaction are having good relationships, enjoying the beauty of nature, and doing real things. We need to support our youth to develop real meaningful ways that are productive and creative to be important contributors to society. That would involve revolutionary changes in our economy and our education system, for starters.

2. If a person is aware that no matter what, he or she will be scorned or devalued by society, there is reduced incentive to make an effort. To provide an even playing-field for our young people, we will need further revolutionary changes in society to reverse the trend toward social stratification based on richer and poorer; and we will need to change attitudes (not just laws) that devalue some people based on attributes such as race, sexual orientation and ethnicity.

3. We need to encourage political involvement by youth to take back our government – not just by voting to choose between the lesser of two evils once every couple of years, but by organizing and activism. Doing something tends to restore hope, and sometimes good change actually results. Activity beats passivity. I say to young people “Take back your country from the greedy one-percent who are spoiling your environment, sending you to war, exporting your jobs, and telling you to just go shopping!”

4. Laws define certain drugs as illegal altogether, or legal only with prescription, or legal only at a certain age. Among the first category is a drug – marijuana – that most of us know is less risky than the legal drugs alcohol and nicotine. Of course there is no risk-free anything – I am comparing risks. Kids who try marijuana learn that it is pretty safe (aside from the legal risks) for occasional users, although some individuals become dependent on it and suffer reduced effectiveness in their lives. Many know that their parents have used it without evident harm. It would make sense to remove marijuana from the totally-illegal category and put it into the regulated category together with alcohol and tobacco. Enforcement of rational regulations such as not selling alcohol or tobacco (or marijuana) to minors, is something I support. When I read police reports in local papers I note how much effort and money is wasted on arrests and prosecutions for minor marijuana possession. Let’s save that effort for discouraging seriously dangerous drugs and for enforcing reasonable regulations about access to less risky ones.

I know that anyone who talks about making drug laws more rational is likely to be accused of all sorts of bad things. My thesis here is that when laws are irrational and inconsistent that looks like hypocrisy, and it supports disregard if not contempt for the law. “I don’t want you trying drugs!” says Dad, while sipping his third martini. Many schools have “drug education” programs such as D.A.R.E. that push an abstinence-only agenda rather than a rational risk-reduction approach such as is used in driver education, which does not push “car abstinence” even though riding in cars is among the most dangerous things we do. (D.A.R.E. may make adults feel good that they are “doing something” about drugs, but though many have tried to find evidence that it changes kids’ drug and alcohol behavior when they become teens, none to my knowledge has succeeded. Even the Surgeon General calls it “ineffective.”) When kids see low-risk behaviors being demonized they are less likely to take seriously our warnings about more dangerous things. And there are some seriously dangerous drugs around.

There is also the matter of our being swamped with advertising that encourages drug and alcohol use by portraying substances as the way to feel good – whether alcohol or nicotine or various prescription drugs. (Get screened for depression and anxiety! Maybe you have erectile dysfunction! Ask your doctor for these pills!) Are our children supposed to be immune to these siren songs? Drug purveyors wouldn’t be spending that kind of money if it didn’t boost sales.

I see drug abuse as a symptom of things that are very awry with “the American way of life”. The problem of youth drug abuse is about all of us, not just them. To address the problems will require serious social and political changes. I think our children, and all of us, are worth the effort.

Psychologist Peter Rees lives in Trenton. He can be reached at rees909@midmaine.com.

Please join our weekly conversation about Maine’s substance abuse problem. We welcome comments or questions from all perspectives. Letters may be mailed to Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04401. Send e-mail contributions to findingafix@bangordailynews.net. Column editor Meg Haskell may be reached at (207) 990-8291 or mhaskell@bangordailynews.net.