Why do children turn to substance abuse?

Probably for the same reason adults do: to feel better. Recreational drugs make you feel instantly better. They MAKE you happy, no matter how depressed and unhappy you are. They make you better than happy, actually. They make you feel AWESOME. They give you euphoria, the sensation that everything in the world is as beautiful and perfect and wonderful as it could ever be.

The problem of course, is that it doesn't last. In a matter of hours, you feel awful again. Especially with harder drugs like cocaine, you feel 50 times worse than you did before. That's when you want more drugs.

Drugs make you happy, without actually having to DO anything to change your life. Instead of making things better for yourself, you can choose artificial happiness with drugs.

When you're a child, there isn't much you can do to change your life. You can't move, or leave your family, or get a job. You can't even drive. A lot of kids probably feel like they have no other way to escape.