I struggle with addiction myself alcohol, nicotine, sex, and p-meds, and food. It wasn't until I studied Buddhism (and no the is not a conversion effort) that I realize addiction is OK, as long as you find peace with in your inner self. Let me explain in a simpler way. Night and Day are two different forces just as good and evil. there is always blend zone such as twilight and dusk for day and night. Now you have addiction and sobriety. In modern western culture, we are taught sobriety must swing to the utmost stringent end of the sobriety spectrum. However, we are humans, and we are complicated creatures. One can not simply stop addiction cold in their tracks and live on the opposite side of the spectrum for the rest of your life and here is why. Human nature expects us to go back and explore the other side, the dark side, the indulging side of addiction. Why? Because simply put it is in our nature to do things we are told not to do. So how does this relate to my situation. I indulge safely, and don't ever let any therapist tell you that there is no such thing as indulging addiction safely. I went from drinking a 12 pack a beer a day for 2 years to drinking 2 beers a month. I went from smoking two packs of Newport 100S a day to smoking a cigar a day. Its all about balance. Also, when i get aggravated and get tempted to binge on an addiction, I usually threaten to slap the hell out of someone for getting me worked up in the first place.