| Dear Friends, Can someone be truly free from addiction? The answer is unequivocally yes! Millions of people stop their addictions every day and most do so without treatment or support group meetings. We know this to be true from the largest studies done on addiction over the last 40 years. The question is how do they do it? It’s much simpler than you think. They do it by allowing for the possibility they can be happier making a change. They do it because they realize their substance use habit is not working for them anymore – it’s not providing them what they thought it once did. They follow through on their decision to stop by focusing on the benefits they see in making the change. The reason some people get stuck in heavy substance use habits is due to their belief systems. This can include their beliefs about the substance, about themselves, and about addiction. My colleagues and I have spent more than 30 years researching how people successfully resolve their substance use habits and we’ve found that those that get stuck have usually been to one or more treatment programs and have been exposed to 12-step support groups that tell them they are afflicted with a “progressive, incurable disease” and are powerless over their preferred substance. While these ideas have been thoroughly disproven in addiction research, they still persist to this day, keeping many people in the tragic revolving door of heavy use, treatment, abstinence, then back to heavy use. | 
