There is a saying: “It is very hard to be a fat guy, while living a thin guy’s life.” If you are the type of person who works out almost every day, does physical things as a part of your life (such as riding a bicycle everywhere you go), and “grazes” your meals (as in, eating a little bit every couple of hours), then you are most likely never going to look in the mirror and say, “Hey, Tubby.” You’ll most likely say something more along the lines of, “Hey, Slim.” And while this is the most obvious as a fat versus thin thing, it also applies to other areas of life.

Obviously, there are differences between the type of person who uses a lot of drugs or has a drinking problem, versus someone who rarely or never drinks, and would not do drugs under any circumstances. The whole outlook on life that one type has is opposed to that of the other type. The drug and booze using type a tendency to just take things as they come, live moment to moment, and be laissez faire about serious issues. And naturally, their friends tend to share in those kinds of tendencies.

The trouble with a lot of rehabilitation programs is that they do not take into account the social networks of the people they work with. Just imagine how the recovering stuff user must feel, coming out of rehab. If your family is all about clean living, and there are a dozen of them, but you have hundreds of friends who would love for you to come and get high with them, the temptation could easily become too great to fall right back into the old groove. It is often far more tempting to go get “a little buzzed,” (thinking they can stop at will) than it is to stay home.