Addiction is an "every minute" kind of thing. Sometimes you can put something off for an hour, or know that e.g. dinnertime is the time we open the wine, so you can wait. But then after an hour, it's still there, and another hour, and another, and then you break down and give in when it is late or you are alone. Which then negates/resets any value gotten from the initial delay. So I don't think this is a placebo at all.