I went to CEDU, which is really wasn't a rehab based program, but they still propel the baloney that if you tried drugs you are on your way to druggie hell. Whether you toked never, sometimes, or often, one of the favorite contrivances for CEDU staff was telling your folks you were on your way to druggie hell unless you remain in the program for the duration. (They loved the word duration. "You are here for the DURATION!")
Anyway, I never did have a drug problem, but I experimented it on a take it or leave it level as a kid, got really turned off by watching habitual tweakers at work and just never really cared enough to pursue it. I just don't really have a "pull" toward drugs and alcohol. I probably drink 8 glasses of vino dispersed a month (not at the same time), toke 0 to 2 times year since my early twenties,haven't put anything up my nose since BEFORE CEDU (those co-working tweakers REALLY turned me off), haven't tried shrooms since I was 17, and tried X once in my 20s.
I think society in general is overmedicated, and the people telling you to be sober might often be on any number of prescribed meds. Capitalized drug dependency is always encouraged. It's the American Way.
My feeling is that one person's toke is another person's Prozac. I also really have a hard time buying alcoholism/drug addiction as a disease. Not to see there aren't predisposing factors and sensitivities. But when people talk about their "disease" it makes me want to yak.
I think some people do certain drugs for transcendent experiences. Can't blame them for that. I'm too afraid to transcend due to the already transcendently disturbing nature of my dreams. There is no question in my mind that hallicinogens would give me a bad trip. None. So, I'll leave the trips for heightened awareness to those who can handle them.
My Mom just joined AA. She does not have a drinking problem. Its like that Will and Grace episode where Grace wanders into the wrong meeting and enjoys the support and validation too much to admit she's not an alcoholic. So, she keeps up the charade. I think going to AA is Mom's way of validating her need to express her feelings and resentments after her WASP upbringing (which views venting as indulgence). It's too bad she has to declare herself an alcoholic in order to do this, though.
I remember one sister of a friend who tried tweak ONCE and immediately enrolled in some equivalent to AA. Her rationale was she was an addict stopping the spiral before it started. She went daily for years. Maybe she still goes. I think she just needed attention. Both of her sisters had bigger boobs than her.
