The only way you have a fighting chance of getting through to someone with addiction so they WANT help is to make things unpleasant for them. This is why formal interventions stress the consequences of what will happen if the addict does not go into treatment. Addicts have to hit rock-bottom before they change.
Loved ones can create the rock-bottom (to prevent it from becoming death or prison) which will force the addict's hand. But ultimately the decision has to be a personal one that the addict makes. Loved ones exert a lot of influence but you must keep in mind addiction is powerful, so it takes drastic measures to break the cycle.


