An Rx For Your Substance Use

The Toolkit has two parts:

• The R (for Resources) System, which helps you develop the resources that support and sustain your efforts for change.
• The 3X System, which helps you measure, track and control your substance use by setting goals and monitoring your progress
• Put the R and the X together, and you get an Rx for your substance use, not to mention your liver!

First, the 3X System

We’ll begin with the “x” part of this Rx. You’ll find that most drug use plans either tell you to quit using this minute or are using rather complicated measuring tools to help you moderate. I think it’s not all that practical to meticulously measure your intake while you’re drunk or high out of your brains, so I’ve evolved a much simpler, more user-friendly method called the 3X System. Each day you record your drug/alcohol use like this:

• No X’s = you did not use at all that day.
• X = you used minimally, as in having a glass of wine with dinner.
• XX = you drank or did drugs enough to definitely “feel it”, as in, “I went out for drinks last night and had quite a few.”
• XXX = A bad day with your drug of choice. You got so intoxicated that you passed out, had blackouts, risked some kind of danger, or made yourself so hung over you couldn’t function for part of the next day. If you accumulate a lot of 3X days, the Toolkit on its own is not going to be enough for you. You should read What If You Don’t Reach Your Goal?