Booze = no. 25yrs on the sauce ended in 2012, chef brother uses beer, stouts & porters for stew sauces, but anything intoxicating is cooked right out. If you're into slow cooking cuts of specific meats, it can be the magical ingredient, cos even the heartiest stock can always be jazzed up. Just start with the holy trinity of diced carrots, onions/leeks & celery.
Shrubberies = yes, but only 2/3 times a week and Volcano the samples, with a bi-monthly edible blow out &/or a piece of piss easy cannabis tea method (just lob cannabis tea into youlube to see)
Class A's = not since 2011, had a few bumps of gak in 2009 & got hammered on mdma @ friend's wedding in 2006.
1987 - 2003 are another matter, everything was fair game. Not proud of some cul-de sacs, but we live & learn.
Prescriptions for complex-PTSD = dozen diazepam each 7/8 weeks, just enough to cover flashbacks. Whats fucked up here is just how quick the NHS were/are to offer a cornucopia of potions, rather than evidence-based therapeutic interventions. Long story short - arm-barred & coerced into trialing Haloperidol, Olanzapine, Mirtazapine, Quetiapine (Seroquel) & Zopiclone. While Zopiclone is str8 up addictive, all the aforementioned were horrendous on starting - hallucinations, zero libido, plus time taken to wedge withdrawal. The worst were Haloperidol & Quetiapine, which were dribbling zombie mess makers par excellence. Nothing has put me on my arse so hard as Quetiapine, not even high-purity heroin.
Anti-depressants are entirely appropriate in a supervised care-plan when symptoms & declining personal circumstances justify their intake. Problem is because mental health provision here in Britain is so relentlessly fragmented, underfunded, understaffed & with waiting lists running from 1-3yrs, how successfully you get treated is a complete lottery compounded by institutional obfuscation. Without an advocate you can be led directly to an early grave thru suicide or lose your mind entirely & end up sectioned indefinitely. The ultimate labyrinth, where the Greeks and their Minotaur & Crowley's Choronzon all actually exist, it just depends which cultural or scientific lenses you view these experiences through.
Problems in Britain are all down to over-prescription of cheap medications for conditions which can be alleviated & cured by specific forms of psychological therapies, eg CBT & EMDR, but which cost a fk load more to provide. So its way too easy for someone vulnerable, with no knowledge of how community mental health teams are organized, to attend their GP & then be misdirected & palmed off with meds that half-work, which then often recoil back toward alcohol & substance abuse.
A system not fit for purpose, to put it mildly, so yeah its great when you're straight, thats if & when you have sufficient medical support to reach such a goal & maintain.
Disclaimer - scuse the mini-essay waffle, but mental health & "sobriety" are frequently inter-dependent & treatment plans are rarely fit for purpose outside of specialized detox units. If you're experiencing problems with health care providers (GP's, CMHT's & any medications), ffs source a local health advocate so they can attend & intervene during your appointments minimizing the risk of you getting mugged off. Advocacy services are one of the main reasons i'm somehow still alive, sane & receiving weekly EMDR (after lost 3yrs on a waiting list).