My question is, what has his relationship with drugs and alcohol been like in the last 20 years since he stopped abusing this drug?
this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2026
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Lol. He quit the hard stuff. Only has wine on holidays but I think that is just out of family habit. He drinks beer everynight to relax, nothing major. He got bought an expired pickle vodka fifth. You can see floaties in it. He takes a shot every not with his pills followed by a bottle of water. He's been doing it for the past six months. He always says it's nightly reminder that how far he has come and will never go back. So I guess it works for them and I get it. But he asks once in a while (even though he remembers) how was he the night before, it's kind of annoying but at least he keeps himself in check. ...I take that back he also has a glass of champagne on new years and that's it.
I had a former partner that was a heroin addict.
When getting surgery they specifically asked to not receive opiate medication due to their former addiction.
This is what people wear medical alert bracelets for.
However a doctor will violate your “wishes” to save your life.
That's a long time, most opioid addicts relapse within 1 year, according to this report.
The rate is actually so high(91%) I can't seem to find years after the first year.
major props to your brother.
None of the things you mentioned would be considered going overboard for any addict in remission in order to protect themselves and the folks around them and prevent a relapse. He is doing the right things.
If he's having issues or worried i would recommend he get a 'sponsor' in a program that he trusts to confide in. A sponsor is someone that has a lot of sobriety/clean time and experience.
I recommend any addict get a sponsor and follow some kind of program at least intrapersonally because there is no reason to do it the hard way with no guidance from experienced peers and professional drug counsellers. Going it alone increases relapse chance greatly.
I have heard that only 5% of the people in recovery stay clean. But it is not impossible.
[off topic?]
Does he go to NA/AA meetings?
I used to work in public health, and a lot of recovered addicts worry about these issues.
If he has a support group of people who understand his situation it might be easier.
Put it this way he went long enough where they started to having to mail out for chips to give him lol. I think he quit going after 15 years because it got into a brag fest and went to others with the same thing. Nothing but the young and old alike talking about incidences they were in and how, without saying it, were worse off than other but came back.
Since Covid there are a lot of Zoom meetings. He can always shop around and look for a place where he feels comfortable. It's not like he has to drive all over town.