Addictions can not be controlled. They must be AVOIDED.
Everyone knows the rule of “one”. You know, it merely takes one taste, one smell, one look, and the addict is done in. It’s never just one. Alcoholics Anonymous teaches its members that it is never just one. It’s more like, “one and done”. Just one leads to full immersion.
The best rule to apply to addicts: don’t be there when that “Just one” will likely confront you.
Alcoholics must never have alcohol in the home. NEVER. Must never walk by a liquor store. NEVER. Must never look at alcohol through a window as in window-shopping. NEVER. Must tell friends to hide the liquor bottles so, when visiting, the alcoholic will never see a bottle of alcohol, or smell wine or other alcohol in glasses on the friend’s counter waiting to be washed. NEVER. Must tell all his or her friends and relatives to never bring out alcohol and to never offer him or her an alcoholic beverage when he or she is present. NEVER.
Alcohol must NEVER be present when the alcoholic is present.
Granted, sometimes it is impossible for the circumstances or the environment to be such that there is no alcohol visible or available. In that instance, the alcoholic, the addict, must never go there. NEVER. He or she must go somewhere else, away from the addictive substance.
If the addictive substance can’t be removed, then the addict must never go there. Never see it. Never fondle it. Never be near it. Never look at it. …NEVER.
