Send the adolescent abuser of psychedelic drugs back on the quest for vision

We humans are constituted to be seekers of a universal vision. Our longing is to

see the whole and to comprehend our part in it. This urge rises as we enter ado
lescence, when our bodies begin to develop the procreative dimension of our natu
re, and the urge to give birth to new life takes root in the heart. The adolesce
nt is propelled towards a society of peers, bringing into this quest for vision
the place of society and the place of self in society. Between the forces of ins
tinct and society, the psychic energies of the adolescent are pressed upwardly,
so that the first buds of personality begin to unfold, the self now taking on it
s own identity, and an attitude toward itself. If carried through naturally, in
time, beyond adolescence, shortly after, the vision will emerge and serve to gui
de a person throughout life towards the vision's consummation. Both the world an
d the personality will flower. This sane universal urge for vision, unfortunatel
y, underlies adolescent drug abuse.
Adolescent drug abuse arises out of the urgency for vision, a passion that is mo
re pronounced in adolescence, for experiences are still deficient. The vision do
es not belong to adolescence. Passion demands insight, but such insight may come
only through long experience, and will be more pure if suffering has flowed thr
ough many of those experiences. Demanding the vision now, the Grail, the Philoso
pher's Stone which alchemist believed would transmute base matter to gold, the a
dolescent discovers a kind of vision through psychedelic drugs.
Once tasted, psychedelic drugs, if the first experiences of it are overwhelmingl
y pleasurable or have had a unifying effect on all that adolescent experiences s
o as to present an insight, a vision (which may be wrong or right), that drug wi
ll be sought by the adolescent as often as possible in order to renew the vision
and its effects. The difficulty here is that, being based on drugs, the vision
requires just that renewal: a true vision sustains itself. Adolescent drug abuse
of psychedelics resolves the urge for vision, but now restricts the growth of p
ersonality and wisdom.
A vision that requires continual refreshment is not a genuine vision, but an ill
usion. Psychedelic drugs produce exactly that effect, illusion. Since these ill
usions are devoid of real structures, the one under its spell cannot operate eff
ectively in the world. The illusions, rather than carrying the adolescent throug
h to fruition, if pursued, must ultimately resolve into emptiness. If not rescue
d, the adolescent drug abuser will more than likely end as an adult in mental wa
rd.
When treating adolescent drug abuse, we must not lose sight of the originating i
mpulse that the drug has stifled, the quest for vision. It is as important to di
rect the adolescent back to the quest and to those lines of pursuit that will de
liver genuine insight. This can be any number of avenues, from nature appreciati
on, to art and music, to philosophy, to science, or to religion, those quests wh
ich have provided man with the vision of self and world that have sustained huma
nity over the ages. Recovery means, here, also recovery of the quest.