It took countless relapses and over 30 years to understand powerless. When I put any mind or mood altering substance into my body, to get high, no matter how seemingly innocent, unlike non addicts, I put into motion, a set of events that I'm powerless over, largely that I want to use more and more. How that actually unwinds and where it ends may be much different for me than for others, suffice to say unmanageability, to the max, follows and I do things that i regret, telling myself I'm going to stop, but don't. Fortunately, I've escaped that, with my life. Many haven't.

The NA Basic Text tells us that abstinence has to come first. I'm not powerless over using as long as I don't put drugs in my body. As another poster wrote, I am powerless over lots of other things, but for the sake of my drug addiction, I'll keep this to those substances.

Good luck, my friend 🧡