seeking that five-dollar high

One of the books I'm reading right now--one of the free copies I got last weekend at the conference in Denver--is Adam Shepard's Scratch Beginnings. The book is about the author's year-long project to see if he can rise from clothes-on-his-back to his own place, $2,500, and a vehicle. It's an interesting book so far, built in part on the concept of an "attitude of success." I think he simplifies things too much, at times, but it definitely makes me think about some of the self-sabotaging behaviors we choose:

"I knew going into my project in Charleston that alcohol and drugs and mental disorders ran rampant on the streets and in the homeless shelters of America, disorders that require rehabilitation and medicine and counselors. The only revolutionary discovery I was able to make for myself was that a lot of guys with those problems didn't even seem to really want help. They were content with the release that drugs and alcohol gave them. A five-dollar high was worth much more than acing the difficult task of going through a rigorous rehab program. Forget the chemical imbalances that these drugs create in the user. In a completely sober state of mind, a lot of these guys didn't even want to quit. ...
On a smaller scale, don't a lot of us have similar problems? The guy smoking a cigarette while chewing a stick of Nicorette gum; the adulteress going out with other men, justifying that it might help her become a better mate to her husband; or the obese man ordering a diet soda to go along with his bacon double cheeseburger combo meal. What are we justifying, really? Do we even want help? Are we trying to kid ourselves into thinking we care, or do we know, subconsciously, that the fact is we really don't care?"