How Many Addicts Successfully Recover From Drug Addiction?

no one has a real answer to that. If i had to guess I would say less than 5 percent. quit for good. 20 percent become jump on and off drugs and the rest do whatever they want.

Narconon is a Scientology front. Their claims are just that, claims. I have yet to see a single SCIENTIFIC study of their program.

Over 90% of all rehabs in the US are 12step based (AA/NA). The rest are mostly Narconon or heavily religious. AA/NA have about a 5% success rate, the same as people quitting on their own. But many, many more quit without ever visiting rehabs, AA, or NA.

It all boils down to motivation.

“There is a high rate of recovery among alcoholics and addicts, treated and untreated. According to one estimate, heroin addicts break the habit in an average of 11 years. Another estimate is that at least 50% of alcoholics eventually free themselves although only 10% are ever treated. One recent study found that 80% of all alcoholics who recover for a year or more do so on their own, some after being unsuccessfully treated. When a group of these self-treated alcoholics was interviewed, 57% said they simply decided that alcohol was bad for them. Twenty-nine percent said health problems, frightening experiences, accidents, or blackouts persuaded them to quit. Others used such phrases as “Things were building up” or “I was sick and tired of it.” Support from a husband or wife was important in sustaining the resolution.”
Treatment of Drug Abuse and Addiction — Part III, The Harvard Mental Health Letter, October 1995.

Many people abuse drugs and/or alcohol in their teens and early twenties and “mature out”, they quit or learn to moderate once faced with adult responsibilities.

The NIAAA’s 2001–2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions interviewed more than 43,000 people using questions based on criteria for alcohol dependence in the DSM-IV and reported:
“About 75 percent of persons who recover from alcohol dependence do so without seeking any kind of help, including specialty alcohol (rehab) programs and AA. Only 13 percent of people with alcohol dependence ever receive specialty alcohol treatment.”

Depends on the drug. Anyone who uses meth, especially if they smoke it or shoot it, will probably do it for the rest of their life. I shot speed for 10 years straight. I sort of quit a few times, but would always end up going back at some point. Now I do it only a few times a year. One of the reasons I can stay away from it for extended periods of time is because I quit self-medicating my ADD with street speed, and finally found a doctor who would take me seriously. He prescribed me real methamphetamine which I’ve been taking for 2 years now. I take it only as prescribed and I lead a normal and healthy life. I eat, sleep, and work. I still have all of my teeth. I have a great career and a wonderful family life. I’m so grateful for prescription meth. Without it, I would be homeless, dead, or in jail. My own personal motto is “Get off speed, and get on speed.” I really wish that more research effort was put into this concept. I strongly believe that the majority of tweekers are simply self-medicating. When I was using, I put myself through college and managed to hold down a job for an extended period of time. I shot 50 units every morning, and at night I would smoke pot, force myself to eat, and take Trazadone, Ambien, and Kolonapin in order to go to sleep. Then I would wake up and do it all over again and show up to the office completely geeked out of my mind. I was a complete closet tweaker. Eventually, my little routine became too much to handle and lost everything. My job, my house, and my sanity. It was just too difficult trying to maintain like that. The potency was always different; sometimes too strong, sometimes not strong enough. Sometimes I was too high to focus on anything at work, sometimes I was falling out my desk. It was really hit and miss (no pun intended). Getting on prescription meth changed my life though. I guess I’ve defied the statistics. I don’t know the actual percentage of successfully recovering from drug addiction, but I know I did it. And I’m sure some people may try to say I’ve switched addictions, but if that was truly the case, I’d be abusing my meds, but I don’t. In fact, I usually take LESS than I’m supposed to, and I rarely take it on the weekends. I basically on use it to focus while I’m at work. Which is what I was trying to do all along.