MARQUETTE – The latest scientific studies find the opposite of addiction is not sobriety; it is human connection.

Everyone has some experience with addiction – that coffee you need in the morning, that donut or cigarette in a moment of strain, gambling, pain killers, uppers, downers. Even a morning run or bicycle-ride could be defined by the endorphin-hook in the brain that habitualizes the stress-relieving behavior.

But, as the diversity of that list suggests, the phenomenon called addiction is incredibly complex. We have much to learn and even more to integrate into how we approach the topic as individuals and communities.

The Great Lakes Center for Youth Development released its “Youth Asset Report” this month, which I reported today.

The data show almost half of high school students in Marquette and Alger counties do not view using alcohol, cigarettes or marijuana as wrong at their age, and one in 10 report using prescription drugs to get high in the last year.

Three percent self-report using heroin or other narcotics once or more in the last 12 months.

Almost 40 percent report it very easy to get alcohol, and 30 percent report having ridden with a driver who has been drinking in the last 12 months.

These numbers shocked me. But they also validate trends I’ve witnessed personally for years.

When our children are in trouble, it raises alarm bells, as it should. But our kids are just mirroring a wider social trend: seeking fulfillment and easing suffering with substances.

Traditionally we conceptualize addiction as a chemical hook in the brain that makes a person crave a substance, sometimes until it unravels their life or kills them. Emphasis is placed on the power of the chemical itself. In the story we are told, we must avoid or eradicate those substances, either from our lives or from society at large, and that will eradicate the problem.

The absurdity of this paradigm is painfully clear to anyone who has experienced addiction or gotten close to an “addict,” a word that carries such stigma, we often cringe to utter it.

But that stigma-induced cringe is the very thing compounding the power of these substances by inconceivable magnitudes, serving to further isolate individuals, magnify their shame and reduce their complex humanity down to one agonizing aspect.

The power and consequences of addiction are nothing to take lightly. But its origin is more complicated than the narrative we’re told – the one that has fueled the “war on drugs” for over 30 years, that sends individuals with addiction to cold cells, treats them with seclusion and makes of them permanent felons.

If the research is true – and the major root of addiction lies in separation and feeling disconnected from a larger purpose – how is that not a game changer?

We have a dire societal need for effective solutions, so let’s apply the science.

The least common assets found in the Youth Asset Report struck me as extremely significant. (Assets are defined as qualities of the youth or their environment that are conducive to healthy development and thriving.) The five least common assets for our youth were: positive family communication, feeling valued by their community, feeling like a resource in their community, reading for pleasure and participating in creative activities.

I’m no expert, but if all five of those things aren’t substance abuse prevention, then I don’t know what is.

It’s a topic we prefer not to think about if possible – especially when the big, bad taboos are trotted out: meth, heroin, crack cocaine. We don’t like to think these things infiltrate our bucolic personal lives as residents of this gorgeous and supportive region. But they do.

What people need to know is that the substances are not the demon we need fear. The demon is our inner starvation. People are hungry – to be seen, understood and appreciated.

It’s complicated, and we could wonder where the responsibility falls and who will pay for it. But it’s critical in our strange modern world that communities create a framework to involve people in meaningful ways – engage their inherit value, reflect back to them their worth and remain open to the universality of their pain – and stop reinforcing their insecurities, fears and inner turmoil.

These souls should not be seen as criminals. They are our children, our friends, our brothers and sisters. They are us. And they deserve the chance to recover.

For more information on my sources, read up on Canadian psychologist Bruce K. Alexander and his Rat Park study. Also illuminating is author Johann Hari’s recently published book, “Chasing The Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs.”

Editor’s note: Mary Wardell can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248.