Dallas Bragg used meth three times a day until drug court's threat of prison forced him to stop. He's now eight years sober and argues that harm reduction, not cold turkey, works for most people because few hit rock bottom hard enough to quit on their own.
So yes, I was slamming 3 times a day, the height of my use and toward the end. And yes, I was able to stop, and I've been in recovery for 8 years now, since 2018. But you cannot compare your experience to mine because I had to go to drug court, meaning if I used, because I was tested 4 or 5 times a week, I was going to prison. My options were very limited. The choice was easy for me in the beginning. So a year and a half of that, I began to glimpse and taste what life could be like without it. Recovered relationships, my kids back with me, a job, happiness, contentment, peace, healing, all the stuff. But for many of you, you don't have a drug court breathing down your neck. In fact, you don't have a rock bottom. The incentive to stop is not there. Because some people end up homeless like me. Some people end up getting thrown out, divorced, anything like that, that— or go to jail, and then they quit. But for many of you, you don't have that. You live in a safety net. You actually have it more difficult than the homeless, the unhoused person like me. So many of you, if you go to treatment and then you relapse, you go to treatment and then you relapse, you're in that cycle. For many of you, through harm reduction, through managed use, that you could step down, you can taper off. To expect you to stop cold turkey is too much to ask. So sometimes if you can taper off, plan a use, plan a use down the road. Maybe it's 3 weeks, maybe it's a month. It's easier to say no in this moment if you know a use is coming down the road. Then you get in the practice of saying no, and you're building that momentum. You're building that muscle of saying no to meth. And then when you get to that use, Oftentimes you don't want to use. And then if you do decide to use, you decide when to start, how much you're using, how you're going to use, where you're going to use, who you're going to use with. You have people checking in with you in the beginning, in the middle, and the end. And then when you're done, you feel better about yourself because you're in control. You are no longer a slave to your urges, to your subconscious. You decide, and that's a win. And you need a win right now. You need self-trust right now. You need to be able to believe the words that come out of your mouth. So consider tapering off. Find a therapist that helps with harm reduction, an organization that helps with harm reduction. I can help you with harm reduction. There are other ways besides an abstinence approach that could be the key to your success.
