>I find the latter fairly important - if we don't prove to be a good honing stone for these skills, when and where will our kids learn them?

"The Real World" on MTV.

In all seriousness, education is the cure for this conflict. Not even drug education, just education in general. Critical thinking, responsibility, ethics, self-awareness, the scientific method, evolution, ect. If we raised smart kids instead of All American kids we'd be a lot better off and substance abuse would be far less frequent. IMO.