From a Rabbi AJ Twerski book:
Not long after First Lady Nancy Reagan launched the “Just say no to drugs” campaign, some researchers were addressing a high school, and learned that many of the students were heavily into drug abuse. They asked the students why they did not pay attention to the “Just say no to drugs” message. Their reply was, “What else is there?”
I understand this to reflect an interesting thought. The knowledge about the dangers of drugs and alcohol can be useful, but are not strong enough to save someone from the pain of a life that is devoid of meaning. The drugs provide momentary relief (actually either distraction or anesthesia) from this torment. That is somehow preferred to the existence without meaning, self-esteem, goals, and feelings of success and achievement.
Not sure how much this matters for the life of the goy, but when we are failing to provide the meaning, etc. for our children, in our frum, Torah based homes, there is a problem. Without a doubt, there are many directions we can point fingers. But it remains incumbent on us to insure our children the most meaningful experience of growing up, where the values we are taught are modeled, where they are given good reason to absorb the recognition that their lives and connection to HKB”H and Torah is valuable and positive. Most people can probably identify ways in which we fail at this. But we can also suggest ways to make these values supreme in our lives.
Torah life is great. The benefit to the follower of a Torah life is (to use Trump vocabulary) HUGE.