A person in active addiction is a person who is currently using drugs and alcohol to any extent. If you are trying to cut out alcohol, for example, but still drink a little bit each day, you are still considered in active addiction. If you are in recovery, it means you are in complete abstinence from drugs and alcohol. You do not partake in any kind of mood-altering substance whatsoever. It is considered a relapse if you pick up any kind of substance. To avoid the temptation to do so, one of the best things you can do is avoid people who are still actively using or drinking.

People in Active Addiction Will Do You Harm

When you are in recovery, it is essential to immerse yourself in a sober lifestyle. This means going to treatment, therapy, and surrounding yourself with positive influences. This is because it is hard work becoming sober. To do so, you need to make your sobriety number one on your list. The more you can immerse yourself in the sober lifestyle and put yourself around other people who have experience living sober, the better chance you have at success.

There are many negatives associated with remaining around people in active addiction. Here are a few:

1. They won’t understand your desire to live a sober life. To them, getting high or drunk is still a priority. Without the desire to get sober, they will not understand how important it is for you to do so. They will minimize the dangers of excessive drug or alcohol abuse and make it seem ridiculous to stay sober. When you are freshly in recovery, this can be extremely difficult to stand up to, so it is better to stay away from it all together.
2. They will peer pressure you. People in active addiction might have no problem trying to convince you to drink or get high. To them, they like surrounding themselves with other people who have the same negative behaviors. They might even enjoy the idea of bringing you down with them. This is because when other people are engaging in the same behaviors as them, it doesn’t seem as bad. It is a way of justifying their drug or alcohol abuse. They don’t care about your well being or your future, they only care about living in the moment and indulging in their substance of choice.
3. They will tempt you, even if they don’t mean to. Your friends who are drinking or using may genuinely be happy that you are trying to get sober and wish you all the best. However, hang around them long enough and you might get tempted without them even meaning to do so. For example, if you are trying to stay sober from alcohol but go out to dinner with a bunch of drinking friends, they will order alcohol. Because they don’t understand how difficult it is for you to stay sober, they won’t realize that by doing so they are tempting you in a big way. Same goes for a friend using drugs. If you see them go to the bathroom and come back in a different state of mind, you can get triggered, even if they tried to hide it.

There is a proverbial line drawn in the sand between people who are in active addiction and those in recovery. Sadly, the truth is that it is a line that shouldn’t be crossed, no matter how good your friends on the active addiction side are. They need to find sobriety on their own, and if you cross the line and try to convince them, it will be much easier to drag you back down with them than to raise everyone up. Surround yourself with people who are sober and you will find it much easier to keep strong and keep doing the right thing. Eventually your friends in active addiction will hopefully follow in your footsteps.