We need to address the underlying issues instead of resorting to knee-jerk prohibitions.

What are those issues? I am not sure, but I have some ideas. This is from a US perspective. Your mileage may vary.

The school system kills the desire to learn and subjects kids to an oppressive scheduled regime rife with bullies. This gives kids something they need to escape, with many resorting to chemicals.

The labor laws imposed to protect kids from exploitative labor practices often prevents them from getting any jobs or independence at all.

The news media is full of gloom and doom, politicians are constantly pushing agendas, and our individual power to respond is small. Despair can result. Drugs and alcohol offer an escape.

Family structures and societal institutions like churches and clubs are crumbling. Kids often have no support systems.

In US cities, progressive schemes like housing programs have created a new de facto segregation plan for minorities, cutting them off from economic opportunities. Meanwhile, prohibition laws drive violent black markets, exacerbating the problems they were supposed to solve.