The psychology at 17 is vastly different that it is at 30 or 40 or 50. As it should be, 17 yr olds have different challenges. But I think it makes getting and staying clean difficult in different ways that it does at 30, 40 or 50.
I would feel the same way about the losers in NA. (I am one). Like what is wrong with those people? They are pathetic, wasted their life away and are now sitting here struggling just to get by, what's their hope of happiness?
And at 17 NO ONE wants to be a middle aged "I got nothing but my HP but that's more than enough!"...because we have plans, and ideals and disgust about people that age with that mindset. We are rebels, and doers, and wise, we have energy and vision, we are jaded but also pretty sure that we are immortal...we can afford to flirt with death, and dance on the edge of a cliff.
I'm still pretty much 17 in my mind (everyone who knows me will back this up) and that is how I often feel at meetings...get a LIFE people! Damn.
All I can say is get clean and stay clean so that you do have all the chances you deserve to take on the world, have deep thoughts, create a life that actually IS worth living, etc. Or you WILL be one of those pathetic losers.
Find a way to have a natural high so you don't have to invent some imaginary friend and paste daisies to your forehead when you are 49.
It sucks, because it seems that in our teen years we should get a free pass to experiment, flirt with death, be morbidly depressed, get higher than a kite and take on the world...isn't that our RIGHT? But...some of us don't have that. Our free pass turns into an addictive prison, and for us, freedom is setting that part of our teen years of experimentation and rebellion aside as "fail" and putting our energy towards other pursuits. They can still be fun, cool pursuits, but they will have to be different pursuits.
Find out if your community has drug abuse groups for teens, because I think that the issues and challenges are different in some ways, and that a group of peers as opposed to people who feel like boring messed up parents can make a lot of difference.
Truth is, if you get clean now, you can avoid all the messed up pathetic crap, so it is totally worth doing. You can save yourself decades of wasted misery. Even if it means sticking with NA and doing the steps etc (there really are good options for an HP) in order to do it, you have the chance to never be one of us. I envy that. I hope you take it.