You're In or You're Out - You're Honest or You're Not

I worked briefly with a guy who had a year or two of sobriety.  Work is a generous word as he did exactly whatever he wanted but I think it made him feel better about himself to say he was working with someone.  One morning at our meeting he admitted that he had been eating THC gummies or some such crap and he "thought" he'd have to redo his sobriety date.  He seemed kind of surprised.  He seemed that he knew he was using but wanted us to confirm this on the off chance that he could keep getting high while declaring he was clean.

I was pretty impressed.  My sobriety date is about five months after I took my last drink.  I clearly recall how difficult it was to come into a meeting and tell everyone I was smoking weed.  It was galling to have to redo my sobriety date but I knew that I was getting high and that it was a substitute for drinking.  I justified it for that period of time by saying that I didn't have a problem with pot.  I could take it or leave it.  It wasn't like malt liquor.  In The Rooms we call it Non-addictive Marijuana.

Yeah, bullshit.

And then there's my buddy LSD Tom who adamantly states that he's sober even though he uses the occasional hallucinogen before a music festival or does a little bump of coke before he works out.  I like that word "bump."  I just need a little Non-addictive Cocaine.  I'm going to the gym to get my heart rate up so I need to get my heart rate up first.  I think there's supposed to be an element of discomfort when you exercise.  It's not a party, for chrissake, it's exercise.

Anyway, I feel sorry for the guy.  I still love him but I don't think his future is especially bright.  He's a controlled dude so he'll probably muddle along in his life, stuck in place, discontented, making the same mistakes over and over.  He has declared an Alcoholics Anonymous hiatus right now.  I'll bet - must be hard using and taking sobriety chips.  He defends his right to use drugs strenuously, backing it with some pretty iffy but substantial research, but ignores my suggestion that he bring it up at a meeting as a topic.  I'll bet that doesn't sound like a good idea.

Wait a minute . . . I did that!