opportunities. Yet, statistics suggest that adolescent girls have ironi-cally found a way of achieving parity with their male counterparts. It is through their entry to the use and abuse of chemicals. It could be stated that drugs have become an artificial means of achieving em-powerment. • Since 1991, there is little difference in the rate of alcohol and il-licit drug use among eighth grade girls and boys. For some drugs, eighth grade girls have even higher rates of usage (e.g., inhalants and stimulants. (1995 Monitoring the Future Survey) (MTFS). • Heavy drinking has increased significantly among young, employed women over the last 40 years in the United States. As many as 16% of these women may be consuming three to five drinks per day (CASA, 1996; US Dept. of Health & Human Ser-vices, Office for Substance Abuse Prevention, 1991). • In 1995, nearly one-tenth of eighth grade girls were current smokers, the same rate for eighth grade boys (CASA, 1995). • Young women between the ages of 16 and 22 are more likely to smoke cigarettes than their male counterparts (US Dept. of Health & Human Services, Office for Substance Abuse Prevention, 1991). • From 1991 to 1995, the rate of past-month marijuana use among eighth grade girls has risen slightly faster than the rate among boys during the same period, (MTFS, 1995). • Today's daughters are 15 times likelier than their mothers to be-gin using illegal drugs by the age of 15 (CASA, 1996, p. 2). The rise in the statistics for females is compelling in relation to the prevention dollars that have been spent in the last 20 years. Drug Use as a Metaphor of Independence and Dependence However, to view use of a substance as a solution to a problem casts a different shadow upon our understanding of the motivating forces to use and abuse chemicals in our society. This in turn presents a whole new interpretation of risk and prevention. In a profound twist, sub-stance abuse can be seen as a symptom that is "socially useful" or functional in our society. The symptom is a metaphorical expression of and response to cultural ailments. Addiction is an attempt at its remedy (Barrett, 1992). It can be best understood as an adaptation to one's environment (Peele, 1989), albeit a poor one. In this framework,