Let it be a reminder of how bad opiates can **** you up. Doesn't have to be heroin. Oxy or Codeine will do the same thing. Heroin is a hard one to kick. He's probably better off dead.
I
t really depends on whether or not one is an addictive personality and if so how deep the psychological involvement is. Some individuals can use any drug, including heroin, develop a craving for its effect, then one day decide to stop using it and manage to do so without great difficulty. Such individuals are relatively stable psychologically and their
habit is essentially physical with no self-destructive psychological component.
Others become so irresistibly addicted they cannot overcome their compulsions no matter what they do, or how hard they try, or how much help they are given. These are degenerate addictive personalities and in extreme examples are beyond any hope for withdrawal. They are essentially suicidal but are taking the long way home.
The most powerful example of purely physical addiction (with sometimes psychological reinforcement) is alcoholism, which is by far the most difficult addiction of all to control because of the substantial physical effect that (toxic) chemical has on certain brain cells.
As I mentioned in an earlier message, I was addicted to nicotine for 35 years but I managed to quit. Yet I know people who have tried everything including hypnosis but cannot stop smoking cigarettes. Also, because of a painful spine condition I have been using ten to fifteen Mg. Percocet on a daily basis for the past three years. In spite of this drug's notoriously addictive reputation I never experience a craving for it and I'm sure I could stop using it if I wish to. What all this means is, fortunately for me, I am not an addictive personality.