Can an addict successfully chip (use occasionally)or is it a self-perpetuating cycle?

[tyrus568]

The above is SWIM's question that has probably been discussed to death.

SWIM is an addict that feels he cannot stop using drugs. A major depressive from his youth (8?), SWIM has self-medicated for many years and cannot see turning completely to sobriety. To SWIM the normal world is a cold, bleak, confusing, dismaying, heartless, dark and dismal place that leaves the wounded wishing they were dead. So SWIM takes a little something to get high, and the next day he is feeling the same as he was the day before.

So is it worth getting high every once in a while (once a week?) on opium tea for example so that SWIM can sometimes feel a little relief, even if circumstances don't change? Or should SWIM take the hard line and commit to a long abstinence? SWIM has tried this before and gone about fifty days - but every day was very, very bad, and he lost the commitment. His feeling is that it could be - probably will be - years before baselines begin to return to normal from thirteen years of drug abuse. SWIM cannot tolerate waiting for years, especially if returning to baseline means returning to his normal completely depressed state, just with no relief available.

SWIM could use the advice... but has a hard time seeing how most "normal" people get by day to day: they are some other, alien, species of life, in his opinion.

SWIM still lives with his parents at a shameful age and with only small sources of income, enough to barely get by. He seeks to get published but knows that he can't make money or sustain himself from doing this, yet he refuses to join the real day-to-day workforce.

He'll take any advice he can get - but he feels like he's heard it all from one person or another over his lifetime, and still no insight. He's looking for some assistance.

tyrus568 added 1 Minutes and 56 Seconds later...

Oh yeah, SWIM is on anti-depressants and has not found that they work very well - sometimes quite the opposite. Six different ones and counting... they don't help, but parents do insist on him taking them to show that he is trying to manage his depression.

[snapper]

SWIM thinks being an addict is being an addict. If SWIY cannot control one habit, chances are moderation or replacement will trigger the same compulsive use eventually with other ones. Sadly, many with addictions have psychiatric problems behind them. SWIM's philosophy is to pick habits that will not destroy SWIM's life and accept a certain amount of compulsive use. SWIM, for instance smokes pot, takes kratom and the occasional psych as opposed to binging on speed, coke and having a heroin habit. Not good, but better than the latter and it helps SWIM to function, much like a pacifier keeps babies from sticking more dangerous things in their mouths. .
Also, self esteem and circumstances are critical. Get out of the house and get a job or activity with social interaction. Writing means staying at home alone, which is something SWIY should avoid. Also, exercise is very helpful with mood and self esteem, and going out for a walk or run is free and accessible to anyone. Kicks up some endorphins too, which are the body's own opiates.
Good luck - don't chip if SWIY can't accept falling back into bad habits, though.