Why are so many Americans self-medicating? What kind of pain makes people do drugs?

There’s a hole in people’s lives that no surgery can close, the hole where meaning ought to be. We see what a mess humanity has made of the world. If we thought our actions could help, our lives might mean something. Instead, we feel useless. Worse, we feel we are part of the problem whether we want to be or not.

Our civilization is built on violence and greed. It oppresses billions so that thousands can be unimaginably wealthy. America has benefitted more from this system than any other country. Any sensitive person will feel this, and suffer for it.

There used to be a drug designed specifically to ease moral suffering; it was called religion, and it worked quite well as long as people believed in it. Once we stop believing impossible things, however, that drug stops working, and the pain returns. There is no grand plan to justify things being the way they are. There is only humanity to blame, so we hate ourselves.

Since we have ceded moral leadership to religions, it’s hard for young people who don’t believe in any religion to find spiritual guidance. The current Pope’s been pretty good. Thich Nhat Hanh died, dammit. There are probably more religious leaders out there who rise above politics, but they don’t get much media attention. What young people need to know is that humanity urgently requires each one of them to take action.

Nobody can tell anyone else exactly what they should do. All our circumstances are different, and we each have unique histories, talents, and skills. But the work that must be done is clear enough. On the environment, social and economic justice, and peace, there are groups doing effective work, and far more tasks than there are people willing to do them.

The missing piece, the piece that will connect young people to the necessary work they can do, is hope that this work will make a difference. It is the hope that humanity can save itself, and be worth the saving.

Lacking hope, lacking meaning, lacking connection, people do drugs. Drugs make the pain bearable. But only hope for the future can make the pain go away.