Originally Posted by
dwtbd 
Use and abuse can be volitional acts, some people place a high value on the hedonistic pleasure and choose to chase the buzz.
Some people use to only avoid withdrawal, placing a high value on not having to go through the immediate discomfort , which can obviously be severe , and continue to use.
Use in and of itself isn't 'addiction' , perceiving one's self to not have volition in relation to cessation is.
And
that is the part of addiction that I failed to delineate in my post, the physical addiction. But the mental addiction - a learned behavior - over many many years is just as difficult to overcome, and why some type of "intervention", be it a sudden self-awareness or an outside influence, is needed to start the process.
I knew for many years I was an alcoholic, but I liked chasing the buzz more than anything else. Over time it became more of a comfort zone for me. I'd been drunk for so long that I was okay with it. But I was unable to recognize the gradual progression as it took over my life. It wasn't until I got sober that I realized how silly it was.
Consider the person born and raised in a prison camp, they know no other way. Or the reference in "Shaw Shank Redemption" about Brooks, he'd been in so long he knows no other way to live and couldn't survive "on the outside". These are very real attributes of an addict, one who has many years. They forgot what reality was like over time, or even know what it is. And that is why it is so difficult for so many to 'change' - to just make the decision one day.