Government

All government arises from the consent of the governed.  Even tyranny only functions after sufficient fear has been created to "force" compliance.  But tyranny never actually forces behavior; it only sets the price of non-compliance so high that nearly no one chooses to fight.  But human history teaches us that someone always fights.  Tyranny is a non-stable form of government.

I bring government into the discussion because a subset of governing applies in our fight against addiction.  There are two main sections of government, group government and self government.  Government over groups of people is a topic outside the scope of this blog, but self government is a key element.

For our purposes, we can define government as the power to set certain boundaries that establish particular behaviors as "out of bounds".  Government is not very good at incentivizing positive behaviors, but it is excellent at banning negative behaviors.  These boundaries function as wall that prevent us from harming ourselves and others by acting inappropriately.

Speaking of tyranny, addiction is the internal representation of a tyrant.  Addiction can not be bargained with or bought.  Addiction is a tyrant that accepts no limitations, reasonable or otherwise that we seek to place on it.  By definition, addiction tramples our boundaries, regardless of the cost.  As with human history, the human spirit is supremely resilient.  A portion of your spirit will always fight the tyranny.  That a point for our side, because no matter how long you've lived as an addict, you have a built in resistance, ready to fight for your freedom.  We just have to learn how to utilize it.