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From a friend who has been clean from more serious substances for a few years now:

"It's a battle every day."

The mentality that the war is never over is an elucidating one for those of us without a substance abuse history.

My late grandfather quit smoking in his early 30s, and he said he would occasionally have nightmares that he started again, in his 70s.

I quit at 23 and now at 32 i still have the occasional dream of buying cigarettes. Although in the last couple of years the dreams changed. Now I realize that i no longer smoke, but start smoking again in the dream. I guess deep down in my subconscious I still fear failing.

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