I am recently sober off of prescription medication (chronic pain and sleep issues) and alcohol. It doesn't matter whether the drugs I took were legal or not, prescribed or not, I took them to alter my reality. If there had been different drugs available, it is likely that I would have taken them as well.
Where there is a will there is a way....that applies to getting clean and using. You can't wish an alcoholic or addict into wanting to get well, they have to want it for themselves. It is not easy, it is doable but the nature of addiction is such that once an addict is out of immediate trouble their mind tends to go right back to using.