when the time comes to quit you know. dont matter where u are or how much dope is around you
Yeah, mos def. I had an epiphany of sorts seven years ago, simply woke up with no desire to use. I didn't touch an opiate for three years, didn't need to. Funny thing was, the WD's after the epiphany were not harsh at all. After a year long binge where I used 350 out of the 365 days, I was fine physically and mentally after 5 days, and outside of insomnia/kicking/stomach discomfort, it was a breeze...and like I said, there were no lingering mental issues/cravings after the physical WD's. Something, god knows what, made my brain say no more, opiates are bad, and that was it. It really felt like a subconscious actions were at play...and I believe it will happen again at some point. I was also working out 5 days a week for about 6 straight weeks leading up to this moment, so that could be a theory to look into. I was taking a ton of protein/amino acids/vitamins/etc, again...something to try for the hell of it.
I used again after my brother and sister were killed, an uncle actually gave me a "valium"which was actually a percocet, should have known better...NEVER trust that crazy uncle you have, and of course that warm euphoric feeling triggered tons of emotions/memories and it officially started another 365 day binge.
My aunt pulled some strings and she set-up a job teaching english in Dubai when I was about a 330 days into the second binge, and she demanded that I take the job(it was 45,000 grand a year, only requirement was that I was a native english speaker who could pass a two week long TEFL course, man were they desperate, and while it's not quite as easy to get a job nowadays, it still isn't hard if you have white skin and are a native speaker, that is all they want really...to impress the parents I guess) or I wasn't welcome in her home any longer, an intervention of sorts, so I said fuck it, this will be kind of cool(and no, it wasn't, outside of the pretty buildings you're still in the middle of a fucking desert.
Cutting of access to opiates worked just as well as the epiphany, but of course, like you said, it wasn't permanent...but it did allow my brain some time to "heal" so to say, which is important, imo...And I do think that some of us, if forced to stop due to circumstances(like moving to Dubai) for a long period of time, may not start again. The percentages are probably small, maybe 1 in 50, but it still might work for that 1 person. Worth a shot...good for the mind/body/soul anyway!