Kangaroo Court Threatens Alcoholics Anonymous' Primary Purpose

The recovery free thinkers movement in Toronto, Ontario has been a thorn in the side of Alcoholics Anonymous for a while now. The group in question, The Agnostic Group first came to the attention of AA members a few years ago when some of its members decided to talk to the press, break their spiritual anonymity, and openly air their resentments against AA. Although causing a stir within the Fellowship it soon died away as most irritants do.

Fast forward to present day. As a result of acting against common unity the Toronto Intergroup decided not to allow The Agnostic Group to be considered an official AA Group or be listed in the meeting list. For those who do not know what an Intergroup does here is a quick list of services they offer:

1.      Receiving, arranging and following up on Twelve Step Calls.

2.      Answering inquiries about AA.

3.      Establishing local Public Information Committees.

4.      Maintain information about local hospitals and recovery facilities for alcoholics.

5.      Publishing local AA meetings lists.

6.      Providing a newsletter.

7.      Ordering, selling and distributing AA conference-approved material.

In keeping with the Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous the Intergroup Committee is made up of group representatives who make decisions via group conscience. What this means is the decision regarding The Agnostics Group was decided by all members of the Toronto Area Alcoholics Anonymous Fellowship (or at least those who attended their group business meeting when this vote was taken).

One of the reasons The Agnostics Group was considered to not be part of the AA Fellowship is because it changed the wording of the 12 Steps. This is what they follow:

1.    We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
2.    Came to accept and to understand that we needed strengths beyond our awareness and resources to restore us to sanity.
3.    Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of the A.A. program.
4.    Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5.    Admitted to ourselves without reservation, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.
6.    Were ready to accept help in letting go of all our defects of character.
7.    Humbly sought to have our shortcomings removed.
8.    Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9.    Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10.  Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11.  Sought through mindful inquiry and meditation to improve our spiritual awareness, seeking only for knowledge of our rightful path in life and the power to carry that out.
12.  Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

One of the founding members of The Toronto Agnostics Group did not like this, democratically made, decision and has decided to take Toronto’s AA Intergroup to an Ontario, Canada, Human Rights Tribunal. The Human Rights Tribunals in Canada are not a legal court of law but their decisions are considered legally binding. These tribunals are not beholden to any other government body. In my opinion they are the equivalent of a kangaroo court with no checks and balances.

A human rights tribunal (at least the ones in Canada) can also be called, “The - You hurt my feelings and I don’t like that so I’m going to whine to someone - Tribunal”. Basically the tribunal allows someone who can’t accept a situation and/or are unable to look at their part in it and have found a way to manipulate a result to their liking. I don’t know about you but when I was active in my addiction I was a great manipulator. I could manipulate people into allowing me to further engage in my addiction – quite the character defect. This type of system is not recovery oriented at all. The Canadian tribunal system in Ontario, Canada has allowed one individual, with a resentment, to cause Intergroup to waste a great deal of energy and monies that could best be spent on furthering Alcoholics Anonymous’ primary purpose of helping the still suffering alcoholic.

Not only is energy being wasted the media attention this resentful Friend of Bill has garnered is giving Alcoholics Anonymous a bad reputation with the general public who don’t understand our traditions and thus, in the end, could be responsible for a still suffering alcoholic not coming for help and perhaps dying.

Dave the Dude

The Disease Addiction Conundrum

The Basic Text of Alcoholics Anonymous calls alcoholism an “illness”. The medical community calls addiction a disease. Some hard core 12 Step members will argue there’s a difference but to me it’s just semantics. Regardless, addiction is a health issue and should be treated as such. It’s not a lack of morals or a lack of willpower. To people who think the latter I challenge them to use their willpower to not go to the bathroom next time they have a case of diarrhea.

Despite addiction being an illness there is an issue which I call the Disease Addiction Conundrum. We have to treat the sufferer but we can’t use all the methods we would use for other diseases. It’s something the many in the medical/science community cannot wrap their heads around. I often here about certain medications touted as the cure to alcoholism/addiction. In the case of alcoholism some in the medical community are putting forward naproxen as a way to curb the cravings for alcohol. When I first went to my doctor for help he put me on this and it had no effect. If you look closely at the studies when naproxen does work it’s curbing drinking cravings in people who consume very little alcohol on a daily and/or weekly basis. It would have no use in trying to help the alcoholic of the “hopeless variety” that the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous was written for. A similar medication is called Baclofen.

Another “miracle” drug being put forward is Topirmate. This pharmaceutical works on the part of the brain that acts impulsively. Many alcoholics/addict have a feeling they don’t like (e.g. – anger; sadness; anxiety) they want to change that feeling and instead of thinking of options they go on their first instinct and use what worked in the past – self-medicating through drugs and/or alcohol. Topirmate is supposed to affect the part of the brain where this impulse control occurs. Tests have shown patients who take it do not act on their first instinct to use when they have a feeling they don’t like, but rather, to pause and consider options before proceeding.

I’m not against these types of medications. I say the more help one has the better. But I would only suggest people use them as a secondary part of what has been proven time and again to work at putting the disease of addiction into remission. That would be a 12 Step Program.

The reason many in the medical community are trying to invent their way into a cure rather than rely on the proven 12 Step remedy is because the 12 Steps have a component which can’t be quantified and is beyond the realm of science. That component is spirituality. The 12 Steps already have the psychological component of cognitive behavioural therapy in treating addiction. That is changing one’s thinking and behaviours in a more healthy direction. What Alcoholics Anonymous did (and the Fellowships who followed its lead) is ad a spiritual component stating that probably no human power on earth could “relieve [one] of [his] alcoholism but a [higher power] could and would if sought” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 1939). Anecdotally speaking myself, and countless, others sought help through doctors, psychiatrists and counsellors to no avail. It wasn’t until we embraced a power greater than ourselves, having a spiritual awakening, that we were able to put our addiction into remission.  The Basic Text of Alcoholics Anonymous defines a spiritual awakening as a personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from [addiction].

Once an addict has a firm foundation in recovery (minimum six months) then they can begin to tackle other issues such as PTSD, other trauma, a proper mental health diagnosis, etc. The 12 Steps programs do not reject science but use it as an adjunct to the program.

Other medications are being used to treat drug addiction such as methadone or suboxone for opiates but in my humble opinion this is a money making industry and does not provide actual freedom from addiction. (See: http://onedaveatatime.blogspot.ca/2015/05/methadone-silent-killer-greedy-industry.html)

Until science embraces something it can’t quantify there will continue be a division between medicine and spirituality.

Dave the Dude

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935 and out of this first 12 Step program sprang over 140 self-help programs with the word Anonymous at the end of their name and/or utilizing the 12 Step Program. There are three main substance recovery fellowships: Alcoholics Anonymous; Narcotics Anonymous (founded 1953) and Cocaine Anonymous (founded 1985).

Although all three groups are spiritually based (they use the exact same 12 Steps with just one word changed) there is some unspiritual disparity that often occurs between each them. Some members of Alcoholics Anonymous put down the Narcotics Anonymous program as a watered down version of the Big Book. I admit I have been guilty of this criticism. It was based on my personal experience with the NA Fellowship in my home town. I since learned that the program is much stronger in other places. I have also met a few people, with great recovery, who got sober and continue to remain sober through NA. There are also members of the AA Fellowship who openly criticise the drug addict hiding behind the tradition of singleness of purpose in order to do so. As a recovered alcoholic/addict I can say the only difference between an alcoholic and an addict is that the alcoholic will steal your wallet while the addict will steal it but help you look for it. Addiction is not a drugging/drinking disease it is a thinking disease. Alcoholics and addicts alike cannot handle reality so seek escape through self-medication.

On the other side there are instances of people in NA putting down Alcoholics Anonymous. Some members, in fact, take pride in this behaviour. I even had a debate once with an NA member who thought that NA was the first 12 Step program. I’ve since realized that person was still spiritually ill not being able to differentiate the truth from the false. Some NA members also cut up AA for its singleness of purpose crying foul for not being allowed to identify as an addict at meetings. For me I respect Fellowships and their unofficial traditions so when I’m in AA I say I’m an alcoholic, in NA I identify as an addict and when attending CA I state that I’m a recovered alcoholic/addict. In the end it’s more important for the newcomer to know they are in the correct fellowship than for me to get a resentment about how I can identify myself.

Then we come to Cocaine Anonymous. I often hear members of this Fellowship putting down Alcoholics Anonymous as they “muck” up the basic text of Alcoholics Anonymous. Spewing statements like, “AA members have watered down the program”, “AA is killing the newcomer”. What I often see is many like-minded individuals gathering together and congratulating each other on what a great program they have. Perhaps instead of accusing people of killing the newcomer these people should go to the meetings in question and greet the newcomer offering them the solution.

The bottom line is that whatever fellowship we choose to attend we are all trying to recover from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. Negativity towards our brother and sister fellowships will not forward that cause but could be a detriment.

Dave the Dude

My Favourite 12 Step Cliches

For those of you who are new to 12 Step Fellowships you’ll notice a lot of clichés bandied about the rooms. At first they may seem simple or even irritating but if you stick around you’ll find some wisdom in them. Here are some of my faves.

1.      Don’t let people rent space in your head. – When I get irritated at someone I’m letting them have power over me. The core word in resentment is sentiment. To have resentment is to live that sentiment over and over again. If you are able to learn how to stop this from happening people will no longer rent space in your head.

2.      I didn’t get in trouble every time I drank but every time I got in trouble I was drinking. – A big part of addiction is denial. No one decides to change unless they have some consequences. The unfortunate fact is that many wait until there are lots of consequences rather than stopping their addiction when there is just a few. Some addicts feel that since they don’t have consequences every time they engage their addiction they don’t have any issues. But if they take a close look, and wipe away their denial, they would see that many of their troubles occurred while obtaining or under the influence of something.

3.      If nothing changes – nothing changes. – Recovery doesn’t happen unless I’m willing to change. First I have to change by stopping my self-medicating. Then I have to change my thinking and behaviours. If I don’t change my dry date will (that’s a bonus cliché).

4.      If you are not completely satisfied with AA (CA, NA, etc.), your misery will be promptly refunded. – One of the spiritual pillars of a 12 Step program is open-mindedness. Newcomers to the program are asked to keep an open mind and try out our suggestions. If you don’t like it you’re free to try something else and we’ll give you back all your problems.

5.      If you hang out in a barbershop long enough you’re going to get a haircut. – Some newcomers to recovery think they can continue to go hang out with their buddies in the bars but only drink pop. What they quickly find is that eventually the disease will kick in and tell them that one won’t hurt. Then they’re back in the cycle of addiction again.

6.      Look for the similarities, not at the differences. – People who come into the 12 Step rooms and begin comparing themselves to others have less a chance of making it then those who seek commonalities. The danger is an individual saying to themselves statements like: “I didn’t drink that much”. “I never got arrested”. “I never had a DUI.” “My liver is fine”. The word that should be placed at the end of all those statements is “yet”. For if one continues in their addiction we have found that they eventually find out that they are just like everyone else.

7.      The first step is the only one you have to have a 100 per cent in. – Step One is the only step one has to be totally committed to. It’s the Step where you learn about the disease of addiction and how one is powerless over it and the mess it makes of one’s life. If you don’t believe you have the disease then you will not be motivated to work on the solution.

8.      We are not bad people trying to get good, we are sick people trying to get well. – Low self-esteem is common in those entering into recovery. We have to remember that we are all good people who have done some things we regret as a result of our disease. Now that we know about the disease we start to get better. (This does not mean we are not responsible for making amends for damages we have done while active in our illness). I wasn’t dirty – I was sick. I am not clean – I am sober.

9.      While you work on recovery, your addiction is doing push-ups. – I have been sober for just over 11 years. If I were to, Higher Power forbid, start drinking again it would not be like I was starting over. I would pick up my addiction as if I had been drinking for those 11 years. Science can’t explain this but it is a fact. As the late great Alcoholics Anonymous member Father Martin said, “only God knows why and he ain’t telling us”.

10.  Under every skirt there’s a slip. – This is my favourite one that I heard while in a men’s treatment centre. It’s suggested to newcomers in recovery to not enter into any new romantic relationships for a year. The reason being that a new relationship brings up a great deal of emotional turmoil which could lead us back to active addiction.

11.  Under every pair of trousers there’s a lower power. – See number 10.

12.  The first one goes down easy – and that does it! – One of the common slogans we hear around the rooms is Easy Does It. This has always been my favourite interpretation of that slogan. It reminds me that it’s not the fifth drink that is the problem but the first one.

13.  Pray for Potatoes But Be Willing To Pick Up a Hoe – Our Higher Power will help us out but we still have to do the work.