JD-
Glad to have you in the Sept. 2011 quit group brother. Dropping you a line to let you know that we are similarly situated, I quit drinking 10 years ago January 31 of this year. I should have quit dipping then too, missed that opportunity. By then I was already 8 years in with the nic bitch.
I don't know how easy or hard it was for you to quit drinking/drugging, but I do know what my experience was like. It was all relatively simple for me, I bottomed out emotionally and quit. I did a little outpatient 1/2 day detox program for 8 or 9 days and never really grabbed on to the 12 steps, don't have anything against it though.
This HAS NOT been my experience with dropping the tin. I've tried 10 times over the last 18 years and it has never gotten any easier...plus I ALWAYS cave. I'm sharing this because I want you to know that your assumption about your 1st addiction being your hardest to drop is probably spot on. There's no way to candy-coat it and one of the things I appreciate about this group of guys is how no one pulls any punches. It is what it fucking is, and we all did it to ourselves.
Keep posting Roll Call with the rest of us in Sept. We're gonna make it, and there are portions of it that are going to suck cock, but if we stay true to each other and to ourselves, we'll make it.