Interesting post Admiral. Lucid dreaming might be valuable for some who are plagued by drinking and/or using dreams. One trick is to wear a rubber band on your wrist and snap it as often as you think about it. After a while it becomes a habit and you will attempt to do this in a dream,... and notice that you do not feel the snap. This is the clue you are now dreaming. ….. have a nice flight.
That being said, it can also be helpful for those disturbed by these dreams to realize that just about everyone who has been in recovery has had them. It’s it fact more normal to have them than to not to have them. These dreams tend to happen much more frequently in early sobriety and diminish in frequency as time goes on.
The only other point I wish to make is that these dreams are a form of wish fulfillment. As much as an individual may want to stop drinking and/or using there is a “pull” toward this behavior. The desire is a part of us. In the fight against it, sometimes the desire finds a way to manifest itself in our unconscious through a dream. This is often disturbing because the individual who has had the dream has been “denying” that they want to drink. Nevertheless here is an example of that desire made manifest. Often the best course is to accept that there is a part of us (and only just a part) that sometimes desires a drink or drug. The desire, though it produces discomfort (and sometime outright mental anguish) will leave. That desire, in and of itself is not a bad thing, at least not like acting on it (in real life) is.