Our teenage "druggies" are habituated to drugs rather than addicted. While beer and other alcoholic beverages are preferred drugs, kids have simply not used alcohol long enough to become addicted. The other drug of preference - marijuana - is not addictive.

A certain group of adolescents evidence clear "druggie" behavior and attributes some time before they actually begin drug use.

Our own unresolved authority problems from our youth sometimes get transferred to our youthful patients, because we are still "covert adolescent rebels." In subtle ways, we encourage the adolescent patient to rebel towards parents, school authorities, and society in general.

Careful listening to current country and western and rock music with the help of an interpreter for coded phrases shows that young people are hearing a constant stream of messages about getting high, feeling good, going on trips, and using drugs of all kinds with all methods.

Second, I use inference from technical studies and theories in order to provide practical information for therapists. Those thoughts are several steps removed from scientific validity.

If a child has an older sibling involved in an addiction, there is a 90 percent chance that he or she will get involved too.

Adolescence in my growing up period was truly "Happy Days," the title of a TV show connotating the quality of this life period.