"I'm not going to stop smoking marijuana," said one client. "I've been smoking for a long time and it's never caused me issues."
Another, who had a serious heroin addiction, tested positive for alcohol more than once. His rationale is that alcohol is legal. And again, it caused no problems in the past.
Besides being unacceptable at TLC, experience has shown this is a fool's game. After dealing with thousands of addicts over 23 years I've seen many try "marijuana maintenance" or “controlled drinking.” And the ones I've stayed in touch with haven’t had a lot of success. Albeit, I'm sure there are those who succeed in doing this. But I don't know them.
Many years ago, long before I got clean, I decided I could drink alcohol and stay away from heroin and other drugs. That would work for a few weeks. But, sooner or later, I’d be back in the spoon. It always led to disaster for this addict.
There's some part of my brain that likes to escape reality. But if I attempt to achieve that state with drugs or alcohol it never works.
