the Substance

Recovery Boston's capital-S umbrella noun for whatever a given addict is powerless over — alcohol, narcotics, cocaine, the Bob Hope: "people addicted to a Substance who abruptly stop ingesting the Substance often suffer wicked papular acne" (p. 200). At the White Flag podium it gets personified as "this Substance you thought was your one true friend, that you gave up all for, gladly" — which has finally "removed its smily-face mask to reveal centerless eyes" (p. 347).