Does Quitting Drugs Cold Turkey Work?

According to the addiction resource group quitting drugs or alcohol cold turkey without any treatment has a success rate of less than 12%. Quitting at a professional chemical dependency facility with no additional long-term care brings the rate up to 20 – 25%. Quitting with professional chemical dependency and a long-term treatment program brings the success rate up to 50 – 55%.

I have tried dozens of ways to stop using drugs over the past decade. Some by choice and some not. Everything from:

Inpatient Rehab
Outpatient Rehab 3 Times
Jail/Prison 3 1/2 years
5 Month military based prison rehab Boot Camp
Moving houses/cities/states
changing my job
Working extra hours/ or working fewer hours
Hanging out with different people
Multiple medications including Suboxone, Methadone, and antidepressants
Probation/Parole
Therapy
AA/NA

I would argue that the long-term success rate of someone who is forced to detox is around 1-2%. This is exactly why a person who is forced to go to any of the treatments above will undoubtedly drink or drug when they get the first chance.

The most basic way to put it, that many people don’t want to hear, especially the loved ones of an addict is this: There is no way to get someone clean and sober until that person is ready and decides to get clean and sober. Even then there are relapses and issues, but once the addict decides they are ready to get sober then the recovery can begin.

Is There A Quick Fix?

So many times loved ones of an addict will ask “What can I do to get my son sober”? or “How can I get my wife clean”? A wonderful AA quote I like is ” I can’t get you drunk, and I can’t get you sober”. This applies to everyone. No one can get an alcoholic or addict clean except themselves.

The sad reality is that there is no fix in the world that can get somebody clean and sober until that person actually decides to stop using and get clean.

Addiction is a disease, just like diabetes. If someone has diabetes and does not want help managing their disease what can you do to help them? Nothing!!! Unless you are going to tie them down and forcefully give them their medication there is nothing you can do. Addiction is the same way. Moms, Dads, Wives, husbands, children, and friends can all beg and plead an addict to get sober, it will be to no avail.

Forced Detox

On a terrible Saturday morning in May of 2013 at roughly 10 am I got arrested trying to steal some stuff. I was tossed in jail and charged. By the time they threw me in the jail cell, it was roughly noon, 9 hours since my last use. Heroin withdrawal was starting to kick in. The next 7-10 days I went through hell detoxing from heroin, cocaine, and Xanax. To really see how bad detoxing from heroin is check this article out Heroin detox: the first 30 Days.

I spent the next 13 months in county jail. During this time I was drug-free, but I was not sober. I was DRY. I was clean from drugs not because I wanted to be, but because I had no choice, I couldn’t get any drugs. Most of my family assumed that when I got out I would be clean. Like most people (myself included) we assumed that by being clean for that long, forced or not, I would come out clean and sober. WRONG!!

The problem was that even though I was drug-free during this time, I did nothing to face my disease. I didn’t work on my addiction, I didn’t go to the AA meetings the jail offered, I didn’t tell the mental health counselors the truth about my addiction and how I was feeling. And most importantly I DIDN’T WANT TO BE CLEAN. Every day of those 13 months I wanted to get high. If I had the ability to use it during that time I would have. I was Dry, I was clean from substances but not sober.

Dry vs. Sober

Being dry is a common term used in rehabs and 12-step programs. It refers to a person who has stopped drinking or drugging but continues to display the same behaviors and thinking of when they were using. Being sober involves not just abstaining from drugs/alcohol. It involves changing your thinking, behaviors, habits, and overall attitude. Most people who try to quit cold turkey would be considered Dry. This can also be called “white-knuckling it”.

Addicts and alcoholics often try various “fixes” to stop using. Moving to a different place is one of the most common ways we think will allow us to “start fresh”. This geographical cure rarely works. Have you ever heard an addict say:

“I just need a fresh start somewhere”
“If I don’t know anyone, I can’t use”
“I know all the local bars here, I won’t go into any bars there”
“A few weeks in a new place will clean my system out”
“Everyone I use with is around here”
“It’s a small city that doesn’t have as many drugs as here”
“I can’t use there, I don’t know any dealers”
“My job is the problem, If I move I will have a new job”

I’ve heard every one of these “geographical cures” before. I have used all these lines before to convince my family that just moving somewhere else will solve the problem. 99% of the time moving will not get you sober. An addict may abstain from using for a period of time in a new city, but unless they work some type of recovery program, this will not last.

Marijuana Maintenence

I stopped using heroin for about 2 months. I was clean and sober, right? Nope! Throughout my days using I would have periods when I stopped the “hard drugs” but continued to smoke weed. Every time I tried this “marijuana Maintenence program, before long I was sliding back down the road to heroin. Around the 45 days mark my brain would start telling me ” you can handle weed, go ahead and have a beer” or ” it’s just an ecstasy pill, heroin is your problem, not ecstasy”. Most addicts have this “Stinking Thinking.

I will be the first to admit that smoking weed is not nearly as dangerous or harmful as using heroin. If the only option is either the Hard stuff or marijuana, yes weed is the lesser of two evils. But a person will not be sober as long as they continue smoking weed.

Sober

Real sobriety is abstaining from all mind-altering substances. When someone is clean and sober they not only have stopped drinking and drugging, but they are actively working on changing their thinking and behaviors.

Anyone who has substantial sobriety will tell you that they have the disease of addiction. One addiction or another would soon take over unless they changed their thinking and actions. This is why 90% of addicts or alcoholics who do not have some long term recovery program end up relapsing within 3 years.

As an addict, I understand that my thinking, behaviors, and actions led to the same result for years. Simply abstaining from drugs and alcohol, but not changing other areas of my life will accomplish nothing long-term.

The best advice I’ve received in recovery is ” It’s not how hard you try, It’s what you do different”.

For an addict to stay sober they must work some type of long-term recovery program, wheater it is AA, NA, AL-Anon, Inpatient, Outpatient, therapy, church group/support group, or a combination of these.