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Yes, drugs are often hard to quit once a serious addiction has been established and heroin is notoriously hard to quit. But why would you instantly assume that CLIB's cousin is abusing heroin? For all you know he could just be smoking weed or taking speed. More importantly, even if he were abusing some of the worst opiates/opioids, he could be in the early stages of addiction which is an entirely different scenario from a long-standing, chronic addiction. I went through a period of oxycodone/oxycontin addiction and managed to quit it without any serious withdrawal and without any desire to continue usage
because I caught it early enough. So please, don't be a pessimist. I get it.. some people are beyond help, but you assumed
far too much in your comments.
If your assumption about the substance in question is correct and
if he's in the early stages of abuse then your post is especially damaging -
now is the time where aiding him in quitting would have the highest chance of success.
Also, do you have a source for what you said about drugs causing permanent damage to the limbic system? I'm well aware that drugs disrupt it, but I've never read anything about permanent damage. I'm very interested in learning more.