The foremost goal of bringing an Addiction under control is to "Have a Life" again, or maybe even for the 1st time!  But there is also an "Ultimate" goal that is set by most any Program that addresses Drug Addiction.  This Ultimate Goal is to become a "Productive Member of Society"! 
     Count Your Blessings if You are addressing Your Drug Problem before adopting "criminal behaviors" as a part of Your daily life.  Sadly, very few of Us are able to do that.  Those who do accept their Drug Use and take that 1st Step of admitting to their Addiction being a, or the, problem in their life have what is generally identified as a "low bottom", and there is nothing wrong with that!
     For the rest of us; We have become criminals.  You must admit to this.  It is against the law to use "illicit drugs"!  Habitual use of these Drugs is habitual criminal behavior.  Habitual criminal behavior is, what being a criminal, is.  If We are capable of being honest with ourselves, which is our 1st goal in Recovery, we know full-well that "using" is just our first step into criminal behaviors.  Maybe in the beginning someone is giving drugs to us and they bring them to us, but this seldom lasts very long.  Buying Drugs and possessing them is another law we break, beyond being "under-the-influence of a controlled substance".  Then, what do we do?  We get in a car and drive somewhere in possession of the drugs.  We are now "transporting" a drug that is classified under Federal Law as a "controlled substance".  Four Laws we violated in what… sometimes it may be as little as 10 minutes!  The vast majority of people wouldn't even remotely consider committing a misdemeanor and 3 felonies over any period of time, let alone in a matter of minutes.  This is reality that must become a part of Our New Lives as Recovering Addicts and Alcoholics!
     But, it has to go much further if we really want to be a totally, normal functioning, part of Our Society.  We must learn to "Respect" the Law and its purpose.  In a Democracy like the United States of America, the root purpose of laws is to maintain a sense of fairness and respect among its Citizens and its body of agencies that govern these Laws, in order to achieve peaceful coexistence and equal opportunities.  In Our country, it is equality of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that our Constitution's framers considered foremost!  Each single law is a part of a framework that as a whole is "The Law"!  So if you are going to learn to respect "The Law", you have to abide by every single, individual law.  No one individual has the right to pick and choose which laws they want to follow and which laws they choose not to follow, for any reason.  This is a very complicated and difficult concept for most "Addicts" to adopt. 
     One of our greatest problems in this area of Recovery is that we have learned to suppress our "Conscience" for many reasons other than just the "law".  We teach ourselves not to think about "certain things".  If we think about "certain things" we cannot fully enjoy the effects of the "love of our life",  our drug-of-choice!  We sort of pre-program our thinking that will eventually allow us to have blind disregard for "The Law".  How?  Most of us begin by learning to lie to those who are the very closest to us.  This would with little exception, be our parents or spouse or best friends or our children and other family.  This is very common among any demographic destined to participate in Criminal activity, not just Addicts alone.  Some overwhelming factor in life allows or causes our thinking to become distorted, our behavior radical, and our Conscience, suppressed.  After some time passes adopting this kind of thinking and behavior, we also begin to have somewhat of a blurry image of what is truth and what is not true.  In simple terms, we learn to believe our own lies.  We do this by rationalizing why it is alright to tell the lie.  If our rationale comes into question we develop a set of reasons to justify our rationalization.  If our justification is challenged we develop our own personal, unique set of "needs" that must be met if we are to have "happiness" and a reason to live for.  Once our thinking evolves with these parameter, we can rationalize, justify and make excuses for doing just about anything we want to.  Disregard for laws is easy if they stand in the way of our "selfish needs"!  Worst of all… most in generally we get away with breaking the law for a long time before we ever get caught for it!  By the time that happens, "We are Criminals" with all the typical traits of any other kind of criminal.  This is not acceptable, at any level, once you accept that You must do something about the "problem" that you have acquired by abusing illicit Drugs.  There is no middle here.  You are either a part of the problem or part of solution.  How far do we go here?  All the way.  Stop breaking the laws and learn to respect them for what they are.  Society's Rules.  Break the laws; Society isolates You from it!

What a Tall Order!  Respecting "ALL" of the laws… is actually the easiest way.  But it takes a very conscious effort, as does all of the rest of Recovery from obsessive, compulsive Drug Use!  This is not just a goal, but it is a necessity.  You can't do the same thing over again and expect a different result.  You can't pick and choose between the easy stuff and the hard stuff.  You have to "Accept" it all.  You can't keep the old thinking and behaviors.  They are what will trigger Your Addiction and overcome you.  Addictive behavior and thinking is what you became a product of.  Any of it can cause you slip gradually back into what has become most familiar and sadly "natural" for you.  Distorted thinking and criminal behaviors are as much of a "Trigger" as anything else from Your active Addiction.  We must learn to "think" about what we are thinking and what we are doing at any given time.  We must stay conscious and develop a conscience to become "whole" again as a human being.  Being "Whole" is as in being honest, principled, moral and in the end, a Happy person that can be trusted and treated with respect.  Yes Respect is a product of Trust and trust is something that must be "earned continuously"!  If we learn to do all of the "little things" the big ones will come more naturally to us.  Get your license before you drive, get insurance, fasten your seatbelt, don't speed, don't jay-walk, don't spit on the sidewalk, no hitting, don't cheat, don't lie, don't buy stolen stuff, and pretty soon you won't even consider the big stuff!