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Perhaps, but I have to question those trading addictions.

And I'm PROUD to be one of them!

Spent many years in 12 step programs to support my younger brother trying to beat his 'usages' of certain drugs and alcohol...none of it serious stuff, but still ruled his personal life to his detriment...

no one ever recovers, it is just something they learn to live with and control at best....the old "give them an inch, they'll take a mile" saying really applies to a user, be it alcohol or drugs...

Finally learned going thru these meetings, watching and listening to others... like my brother also.... they look at their addictions as the fault of others....

they truly do hurt the ones they love the most, as those are the ones that they blame their addictions on...

my brother blamed me for his using, with the excuse that I was codependent, and by taking care of all his problems in life, I enabled him to be able to use, because he didn't have to worry about anything.. therefore it was my fault that he didn't have to go thru any sort of recovery....

When he said this in a group meeting, with all the others shaking their heads yes, I felt like putting him thru the wall...

it sure stopped my taking care of everything for him....

I learned sitting in 12 step programs, it is hard to see these things when you are emotionally involved with the person who has an addiction.. such as family....

but sitting in meetings, listening to others you have NO emotional involvement with, you can easily see the source of their dysfunctions.... you learn patterns and functional actions and responses to dealing with the addicts you are emotionally connected to ( Ie, Family).....

an example is my brother got thrown in jail in Minnesota, for something stupid.... he got pulled over for a tail light being out.... they ran his record and found he had a warrant out for his arrest, for not paying a parking ticket a few weeks short of 7 years earlier ( statute of limitations)...

so I get called to go down and bail him out for the weekend.. and he has court on Monday.... my mom was visiting... she goes down with me.....

She sees him locked up and starts crying.... saying it was the saddest thing she ever had to deal with.... enabling and sympathy...

I started laughing and told him seeing him behind bars was the funniest thing I had ever seen.... I refused to bail him out of jail, and refused to let mom pay his bail either.... based on his past actions when I came to his rescue....

end result was he made sure that his driving record and any outstanding fines were taken care of first thing that week...

if we would have bailed him out, he would have continued status quo, and would have expected us to pay his fines for what he had been thrown into jail for in the first place, along with paying the $150 to get his truck out of the impound lot out in Corcoran...

12 step programs save people's lives, but they have to be ready for it... court ordered 12 step program attendance is useless..

as I use to say in those programs... the old adage...

You can lead a horse to water

you can throw the horse in the water

you can drown the horse in the water...

but you can't make the horse drink the water...


motivation has to come from within.. and with an addict, if it doesn't, you are wasting both their time and your time...

no mercy for their actions is the only way you help these people.. comforting them only enables them to continue what is undermining their lives and everyone else they touch...

What were your prior addictions?

my brother use to analyze 12 step programs of where people try to give up their addictions to alcohol and drugs, by picking up an addiction to coffee cigarettes and Jesus....

certain amount of truth in that...

That is his only hope as there is not medical cure for heroin addiction. More than anything else, he or anyone else for that matter has to have a honest desire to get sober.

Why is it that NO one ever finds Christ on prom night?

In my youth, I had a serious addiction to pu$$y...It cost me dearly...a couple times it left me spiritually & financially bankrupt...more than once, I found myself compromising my morals.

Because getting laid is not life threatening.

pretty sure I cried "Oh God" on prom night

marijuana isn't additive, there is no such thing as pot physical withdrawals.

I found Jesus on prom night... along with heaven and earth and all things wonderful...

5 ft 9, blond hair to her waist, 42 DDs...

I couldn't even find my car on prom night! Good thing too.

In fact, I lost my tux. Took me forever to pay for that thing.

Lots of truth to that. You have to remember that the addict spends their day thinking about what (substance) they need, getting the substance, using the substance and then when they start to come down, where their next dose will come from. It takes up their entire day, so now when they (hopefully) get sober, they have this huge gap of time in their day with nothing to do, except going to 12 step meeting(s). Hopefully, if their life wasn't completely impacted by their addiction, whey can get some type of work to fill 8-10 hrs of that unused gap. That's primarily, why they take up other addictions like the ones you mentioned or they develop a different addiction.

Cigarettes. After I became a Christian, I read scripture that pointed out that my body, along with countless others, was now the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6 : 19-20. After reading that, I decided that it just wasn't right for me to be filling the residing place of the Holy Spirit with smoke. I'm sure that those words had much to do with me quitting nicotine but my two little girls begging me to quit was the main thing at that time.

Good for you Bigbuck... especially being a dad and motivated by the requests of your two young daughters...

Well, to a certain degree you are right, but there is still the mental addiction, which when you are separated from the weed in say a rehab, it is far, far easier to recover from that addiction. Alcohol, on the other hand, is a physical and mental addiction which makes it more complex to deal with. It can, however be done, as I know dozens of folks, some personal friends, with decades of sobriety.

HA! I gave up on school three years before prom night.

I did an intership at a residential treatment facility years ago..... On the last day there the director pulled me aside and told me the main thing he would like me to take away from the training was his belief that treatment out comes would be multipul time better if they were able to work with family friends and employers of alcoholics/drug addicts without necessary even seeing the addicts......

The concept of "Love the person but do NOT be accepting of unacceptable behavior".... Is a powerful one..... The crazy making part for people with substance abuse/dependency issues people in their lives is figuring out what their "bottom line " is and then never threating something without being willing to follow through with it.

The above is much easier said than done though.... The "grey areas" will literally drive some one nuts..... Alanon/ Naranon can often help sort out the individual situations. A Google search will locate meetings and contact people pretty much anywhere.