This book was written for educators and counselors, but its concepts are applicable to anyone who works with youth. It contains five chapters, the first of which emphasizes that building self-esteem is the best way to counter serious drug misuse. In chapter two, the kinds of pressures youngsters must cope with are discussed. In this chapter internal pressures are identified as those which relate to gender, cultural traditions, expectations, and roles such as (a) male/female, (b) ethnic, (c) religious, (d) urban/non-urban, and (e) patriotic. External pressures, such as (a) parental, (b) peer, (c) authority, (d) legal, and (e) reward, are defined as those being common to all young people. Chapter three deals with experiential learning and values clarification as means for achieving better communication and better decision making processes. This chapter discusses the phases of values clarification: (a) choosing, (b) prizing, and (c) acting. Chapter four is a discussion of how a teacher should apply values clarification techniques to himself, in order to learn why he respondes in certain ways. The final chapter stresses that using the building of self-esteem to counter drug misuse would succeed best if many people would commit themselves to its principles. An appendix is attached which includes (a) experiential learning exercises, (b) selected readings, and (c) drug/alcohol information sources. (RC)