The overall thrust of these 2 papers is that, with widespread drug use, we must re-examine motivation for drug usage and clearly distinguish between drug use and abuse. Considerable data is included on: (1) patterns of use; (2) relationships of use with peer attitudes and use; (3) the educational level of beginning use; and (4) attitudes and values related to use. The widespread use of drugs demands that the common practice of analyzing causation on the basis of personality differences between users and non-users be re-examined. Such analysis must take into account not only the user, but also which drug is used and cultural-environmental factors. The author, while acknowledging a continued role for personality variables in such analyses, clearly sees a trend toward explanatory mechanisms drawn from the study of collective behavior. Disavowing the usual moral-based refusal to distinguish between illicit drug use and drug abuse, the author offers a value-free view of usage which is related to the problems of adolescence and of secondary education: the adolescent wants to feel better, believes that drugs will work, has no constraints against using them, and has the opportunity. (TL)