I went to AA for 24 years and had some success but very little. I became the club relapse king and my self esteem went way south to the point that I went from being a problem drinker to a full blown alky with street bum mentality, I drank cologne and rubbing alcohol to take off the shakes on many occasions. I was in and out of the Hospital so much I was what they call a frequent flyer and I was told by a physician that I was gonna die from alcoholism and she didn't give me more than 5 years to live. Well that was 10 years ago and I am alive and sober today. All because I woke up, and it truly was a miracle that I did because I was completely sold on AA, that's why I went for 24 years. I had had another relapse and was mad at myself and wanted to figure out why but kept hearing those words "resentment is the number one offender, it destroys more alcoholics than anything else" and I knew that I had a resentment burning so there was my answer, right, wrong. I remembered something that I had learned in a treatment program about "self fulfilling prophecies" but I wasn't sure what that was exactly and I wanted to learn more about it so I innocently started googling different things to try and find out about this self fulfilling prophecy thing. WARNING SPOILER ALERT, EXTREME AA SPOILER ALERT IF YOU READ FURTHER YOU MAY FIND OUT A TRUTH YOU DID NOT KNOW AND DIDNT WANT TO KNOW. Sooooo I google the words Brainwashing Techniques and I never went to AA again and have been sober for 7 years. What I discovered was that the AA twelve steps are the exact same steps that are used to brainwash a person and when I researched it further I ran into a little problem. Brainwashing was supposed to be discovered in the 50's and AA got started in the 30's, and the steps to brainwash somebody do not have anything to do with god at all, they are the raw brainwashing steps, when you add god to the equation now you have a Religious Cult. There it was plain as day for me to see in black and white and with peoples names I could google and look up to see if it was real and it is. AA is a Religious Cult, in fact AA is the very first Religious Cult in the world and all other Religious Cults model themselves on the Autonomous Nature of AA. The way AA grows through the brainwashing is, well, the most money making thing ever. Its like a giant coin operated laundry bringing in small dollars at a time but millions of them every day. Think about it, there is an AA meeting going on somewhere right now, in fact there are hundreds of them going on right now, and next hour and the hour after that and on and on 24 hours a day 7 days a week 52 weeks in a year. AA dosent even really exist you know, read the traditions CAREFULLY, read them in the 12 and 12, take them to an accountant ask them what they are, or better yet ask an insurance person. You've been swindled into thinking that AA is responsible for your sobriety and you are paying for it in 3 and 4 dollar increments everyday. Your spending hundreds of dollars annually on a free program and dont even know it, its the most hilarious and obvious thing when your eyes are open, its so obvious when you really understand what brainwashing is and why they want you to "get out of self" in those meetings. You have to destroy the self mechanism to brainwash a person and after all didn't your best thinking get you there. See what I mean. Dont you doubt your every move and think you have to talk to your sponser before you take a crap. That's brainwashing bullshit man. Heres what I did, I quit going to AA, I tried my best to quit thinking about it but as you can see I think about it all the time, damn brainwashing, well probably be with me for ever. Then I said to myself OK if AA is out then I can write my own program. I said you know what, I think Marijuana would help me to stay sober from alcohol, and after all the alcohol was killing me remember what the Dr. said. So I started growing and using Marijuana and after about two years I realized I was completely cured of my mental obsession with Alcohol. I was done. Now I have been sober from alcohol for 7 years and I still vape a little here and there but once I got past the real bad time I slowed way down on the vaping and became who I really am, the person I never new existed. There is an old joke, it goes like this. Guy on a roof with a flood raging around him. He prays to god for him to save him, a few minutes latter here comes a boat and a guy on it yells take my rope but the guy on the roof says "no thank you God will save me". So the flood rages on and now its almost up to him at the peak of the house and here comes a helicopter and a guy in it says through a loud speaker to take the basket they are dropping and they will get him out of there, but the guy is faithful that god will save him and waves the Helicopter off. Finally the flood waters consume the house and the man drowns and he goes to heaven and he sees god and he says to god "why did you for sake me" why didn't you save me my lord, and god said. I sent you a boat and a helicopter dude WTF. Maybe Marijuana was my boat or helicopter and the House was AA and the flood was the alcohol. Maybe instead of a boat a bale of weed floats by and you bet your ass I jumped on it. Maybe its not about God at All not that God wont help but maybe its really about changing your habits and that takes time and anything that can help you get that little bit of time is actually what they call HELP. Remember when you came to AA you came for HELP but all you got was ADVICE and told to STFU you were stinking up the room with your diseased thoughts and words. When you said something that even halfway made any sense you were told that your best thinking got you here and to get out of self and do some service work empty some ashtrays or sweep the club. CLASIC BRAINWASHING STUFF MAN. Seriously look it up. All this kind of bullshit does is take a way your since of self and make you like putty in the hands of the AAer and then you are ready to take certain steps, by the time you get to 12 you are a lean mean AA machine spreading your sickness to sick unsuspecting alcoholics who have been told that AA is the answer in TV shows, Court, and well isn't everybody a former AAer or about to be one I mean come on, get on the band wagon, the Wilson family has bills to pay. I am so glad I dont have to go to those meetings anymore, and you dont have to anymore either just grow a zet.
Tanin said
Jun 5, 2018
Congrats on 7 years.
Keep up the good work...
Pythonpappy said
Jun 6, 2018
Guy, ...
glad you are sober by your definition, ... when I came to AA, brain-washing was exactly what I needed ... my brain was broken and I couldn't think right ... a Spiritual foundation for healing doesn't mean AA is a cult ... we continue to heal by helping others to learn there is more to life than looking at the bottom of a bottle ... and it didn't cost me a dime ... if I had some change at the end of a meeting, I dropped it in the basket to help cover the cost of coffee and rent ...
AA is made up of alcoholics helping other alcoholics get and stay sober ... That's a good thing, Right??? ... ... ...
Pappy
Fyne Spirit said
Jun 7, 2018
I spect a couple of months in a psychiatric hospital when I was 21. I was in the alcoholic ward and put in a group of 10 who had some chance of recovery. The other 40 or so patients were all wet brains. Alcohol had well and truly brainwashed them. I can't help thinking my court ordered stay there had been an attempt at some kind of aversion therapy. If it was, I missed the point. I felt right at home in that company.
There were these two old AA geezers who drove up to us every week to hold a meeting. It was a long way to drive, and there was no collection at the meeting, so I guess they pais their own expenses. I missed the point of what they were trying to tell me. It went right over my head. I did like the look of their car though. I was the youngest in the group. Even so the oldest was about 40, so we were quite a young group. We were with out a doubt, all end stage alcoholics.
A couple of the group, Arthur and Len, bought into the AA "BS" and went to AA. This was in 1979, and they have stayed sober since then and are still sober today. I went with the rest of the group. We knew there had to be a better way than AA, and we set out to prove it. Then the first one died. Tim was the oldest, an accountant by profession, had a great deal of social anxiety. He got drunk one night and burnt his house down. It was pretty upsetting, he was a nice guy. Even when drunk he was a harmless type. The alst time I saw him I caught a glimpse of him through the window of his house as he tried to slip from one room to another to hide from us.
I wasn't travelling too well my self by this time. The follow up nurse wrote in a report I saw several years later that my living conditions were "absolute squalor". Couldn't work, couldn't get out of bed many days, still I wasn't drinking.
There is nothing new under the sun. I am still waiting to have my first original thought in AA. This business with the dope is as old as the hills and has been tried many times. There is even a name for it, the "marijuana maintenance program" which, in my view, is another name for paliative care. Paliative care, in case you don't know, is where the condition is terminal and hopeless, but with the help of some drug or other, it aims to keep you as comfortable as possible while you wait for the end.
I knew these drug addicts, funnily enough, in the circles I mixed in. They did not like my drinking and thought I might do better on weed than alcholol. I was pretty miserable by this time, and it sounded like a good idea. I had had no involvement with AA other than this old boy who used to visit once in a while to see how I was going. He never got em to a meeting.
So I take a puff on this weed (a drug of choice for me) and it made me feel better instantly. I felt so much better that a beer, (my drug of no choice) was down my neck in seconds. Strange how a drug of choice (I can take it or leave it) led straight to my drug of no choice. Thereafter started a downhill slide so much worse than anything I had experienced before. That ended with me at the door of AA in another town. By this time I had lost what little I had remaining, was hallucinating, had malnutrition, and according to the doctor, would not survive another six months.
There were eight of us who essentially followed your recommended path, don't go to AA, just smoke dope. This is how it worked out for us.
By the time I got to AA, the other seven were already dead. I was the only survivor fo the method you advocate. I went to AA, followed the suggestions and am still sober today. Final score AA 3/3 (100% success) Alternative 0/7 (100 % fatality).
Of course I write this as a brain washed AAer, but you know, those fellows are just as dead regardless, and I am not. Thats just a fact.
TipsyMcstagger said
Jun 8, 2018
Blah blah blah..."I was a miserable failure at AA and sobriety so now I hate AA and choose to slog through life in a pot induced stupor". Bravo. Well done. Your rambling barely coherent post should be enough to demonstrate to everyone that you're a total burnout who shouldn't be taken seriously.
Go blaze up loser.
Bill_Wilson_Dropped Acid said
Apr 27, 2021
This is of course, a very immature, and probably not very old, person with and axe to grind. I came here as a good AA member who nevertheless HAS been playing around with pot. Despite the fact that I did relapse one time BECAUSE of it. I have some stomach issues that promoted the pot. And, for a while there, I thought I was hooked and maybe should do a whole rehab around it. At this point I'm slightly inclined to let myself continue to play with it. It DOES seem to enhance my enjoyment of things, which is important for anyone, to enjoy the life they have been given, if they can. It's a little paranoic and scary, but people have taught me that that FEAR is actually an interesting part of the PROCESS if you can remember it will soon be OVER. Which is a great property it does NOT share with alcohol. For me, alcohol has become a YEARS-LONG committment should I fall, and, at 68, I don't have a lot of those left in me.
peterjohnson said
Apr 20, 2024
"420 Friendly AA Meetings" refer to Alcoholics Anonymous gatherings where attendees are accepting and understanding of cannabis use. These meetings recognize that individuals may be in recovery from alcohol addiction while also using marijuana for various reasons, whether medicinal or recreational. While the concept of 420 friendly AA meetings may be somewhat controversial within traditional recovery circles, it acknowledges the complexities of substance use and seeks to provide support without judgment. In areas like Kingston where cannabis consumption is legal, services like weed delivery Kingston might play a role in the lives of those attending these meetings, offering convenience and accessibility for individuals managing their recovery journey alongside their cannabis use. Ultimately, the goal remains to foster a supportive community where individuals can find understanding and healing regardless of their substance use history.
I went to AA for 24 years and had some success but very little. I became the club relapse king and my self esteem went way south to the point that I went from being a problem drinker to a full blown alky with street bum mentality, I drank cologne and rubbing alcohol to take off the shakes on many occasions. I was in and out of the Hospital so much I was what they call a frequent flyer and I was told by a physician that I was gonna die from alcoholism and she didn't give me more than 5 years to live. Well that was 10 years ago and I am alive and sober today. All because I woke up, and it truly was a miracle that I did because I was completely sold on AA, that's why I went for 24 years. I had had another relapse and was mad at myself and wanted to figure out why but kept hearing those words "resentment is the number one offender, it destroys more alcoholics than anything else" and I knew that I had a resentment burning so there was my answer, right, wrong. I remembered something that I had learned in a treatment program about "self fulfilling prophecies" but I wasn't sure what that was exactly and I wanted to learn more about it so I innocently started googling different things to try and find out about this self fulfilling prophecy thing. WARNING SPOILER ALERT, EXTREME AA SPOILER ALERT IF YOU READ FURTHER YOU MAY FIND OUT A TRUTH YOU DID NOT KNOW AND DIDNT WANT TO KNOW. Sooooo I google the words Brainwashing Techniques and I never went to AA again and have been sober for 7 years. What I discovered was that the AA twelve steps are the exact same steps that are used to brainwash a person and when I researched it further I ran into a little problem. Brainwashing was supposed to be discovered in the 50's and AA got started in the 30's, and the steps to brainwash somebody do not have anything to do with god at all, they are the raw brainwashing steps, when you add god to the equation now you have a Religious Cult. There it was plain as day for me to see in black and white and with peoples names I could google and look up to see if it was real and it is. AA is a Religious Cult, in fact AA is the very first Religious Cult in the world and all other Religious Cults model themselves on the Autonomous Nature of AA. The way AA grows through the brainwashing is, well, the most money making thing ever. Its like a giant coin operated laundry bringing in small dollars at a time but millions of them every day. Think about it, there is an AA meeting going on somewhere right now, in fact there are hundreds of them going on right now, and next hour and the hour after that and on and on 24 hours a day 7 days a week 52 weeks in a year. AA dosent even really exist you know, read the traditions CAREFULLY, read them in the 12 and 12, take them to an accountant ask them what they are, or better yet ask an insurance person. You've been swindled into thinking that AA is responsible for your sobriety and you are paying for it in 3 and 4 dollar increments everyday. Your spending hundreds of dollars annually on a free program and dont even know it, its the most hilarious and obvious thing when your eyes are open, its so obvious when you really understand what brainwashing is and why they want you to "get out of self" in those meetings. You have to destroy the self mechanism to brainwash a person and after all didn't your best thinking get you there. See what I mean. Dont you doubt your every move and think you have to talk to your sponser before you take a crap. That's brainwashing bullshit man. Heres what I did, I quit going to AA, I tried my best to quit thinking about it but as you can see I think about it all the time, damn brainwashing, well probably be with me for ever. Then I said to myself OK if AA is out then I can write my own program. I said you know what, I think Marijuana would help me to stay sober from alcohol, and after all the alcohol was killing me remember what the Dr. said. So I started growing and using Marijuana and after about two years I realized I was completely cured of my mental obsession with Alcohol. I was done. Now I have been sober from alcohol for 7 years and I still vape a little here and there but once I got past the real bad time I slowed way down on the vaping and became who I really am, the person I never new existed. There is an old joke, it goes like this. Guy on a roof with a flood raging around him. He prays to god for him to save him, a few minutes latter here comes a boat and a guy on it yells take my rope but the guy on the roof says "no thank you God will save me". So the flood rages on and now its almost up to him at the peak of the house and here comes a helicopter and a guy in it says through a loud speaker to take the basket they are dropping and they will get him out of there, but the guy is faithful that god will save him and waves the Helicopter off. Finally the flood waters consume the house and the man drowns and he goes to heaven and he sees god and he says to god "why did you for sake me" why didn't you save me my lord, and god said. I sent you a boat and a helicopter dude WTF. Maybe Marijuana was my boat or helicopter and the House was AA and the flood was the alcohol. Maybe instead of a boat a bale of weed floats by and you bet your ass I jumped on it. Maybe its not about God at All not that God wont help but maybe its really about changing your habits and that takes time and anything that can help you get that little bit of time is actually what they call HELP. Remember when you came to AA you came for HELP but all you got was ADVICE and told to STFU you were stinking up the room with your diseased thoughts and words. When you said something that even halfway made any sense you were told that your best thinking got you here and to get out of self and do some service work empty some ashtrays or sweep the club. CLASIC BRAINWASHING STUFF MAN. Seriously look it up. All this kind of bullshit does is take a way your since of self and make you like putty in the hands of the AAer and then you are ready to take certain steps, by the time you get to 12 you are a lean mean AA machine spreading your sickness to sick unsuspecting alcoholics who have been told that AA is the answer in TV shows, Court, and well isn't everybody a former AAer or about to be one I mean come on, get on the band wagon, the Wilson family has bills to pay. I am so glad I dont have to go to those meetings anymore, and you dont have to anymore either just grow a zet.
Keep up the good work...
Guy, ...
glad you are sober by your definition, ... when I came to AA, brain-washing was exactly what I needed ... my brain was broken and I couldn't think right ... a Spiritual foundation for healing doesn't mean AA is a cult ... we continue to heal by helping others to learn there is more to life than looking at the bottom of a bottle ... and it didn't cost me a dime ... if I had some change at the end of a meeting, I dropped it in the basket to help cover the cost of coffee and rent ...
AA is made up of alcoholics helping other alcoholics get and stay sober ... That's a good thing, Right??? ... ... ...
Pappy
There were these two old AA geezers who drove up to us every week to hold a meeting. It was a long way to drive, and there was no collection at the meeting, so I guess they pais their own expenses. I missed the point of what they were trying to tell me. It went right over my head. I did like the look of their car though. I was the youngest in the group. Even so the oldest was about 40, so we were quite a young group. We were with out a doubt, all end stage alcoholics.
A couple of the group, Arthur and Len, bought into the AA "BS" and went to AA. This was in 1979, and they have stayed sober since then and are still sober today. I went with the rest of the group. We knew there had to be a better way than AA, and we set out to prove it. Then the first one died. Tim was the oldest, an accountant by profession, had a great deal of social anxiety. He got drunk one night and burnt his house down. It was pretty upsetting, he was a nice guy. Even when drunk he was a harmless type. The alst time I saw him I caught a glimpse of him through the window of his house as he tried to slip from one room to another to hide from us.
I wasn't travelling too well my self by this time. The follow up nurse wrote in a report I saw several years later that my living conditions were "absolute squalor". Couldn't work, couldn't get out of bed many days, still I wasn't drinking.
There is nothing new under the sun. I am still waiting to have my first original thought in AA. This business with the dope is as old as the hills and has been tried many times. There is even a name for it, the "marijuana maintenance program" which, in my view, is another name for paliative care. Paliative care, in case you don't know, is where the condition is terminal and hopeless, but with the help of some drug or other, it aims to keep you as comfortable as possible while you wait for the end.
I knew these drug addicts, funnily enough, in the circles I mixed in. They did not like my drinking and thought I might do better on weed than alcholol. I was pretty miserable by this time, and it sounded like a good idea. I had had no involvement with AA other than this old boy who used to visit once in a while to see how I was going. He never got em to a meeting.
So I take a puff on this weed (a drug of choice for me) and it made me feel better instantly. I felt so much better that a beer, (my drug of no choice) was down my neck in seconds. Strange how a drug of choice (I can take it or leave it) led straight to my drug of no choice. Thereafter started a downhill slide so much worse than anything I had experienced before. That ended with me at the door of AA in another town. By this time I had lost what little I had remaining, was hallucinating, had malnutrition, and according to the doctor, would not survive another six months.
There were eight of us who essentially followed your recommended path, don't go to AA, just smoke dope. This is how it worked out for us.
By the time I got to AA, the other seven were already dead. I was the only survivor fo the method you advocate. I went to AA, followed the suggestions and am still sober today. Final score AA 3/3 (100% success) Alternative 0/7 (100 % fatality).
Of course I write this as a brain washed AAer, but you know, those fellows are just as dead regardless, and I am not. Thats just a fact.
Go blaze up loser.
This is of course, a very immature, and probably not very old, person with and axe to grind. I came here as a good AA member who nevertheless HAS been playing around with pot. Despite the fact that I did relapse one time BECAUSE of it. I have some stomach issues that promoted the pot. And, for a while there, I thought I was hooked and maybe should do a whole rehab around it. At this point I'm slightly inclined to let myself continue to play with it. It DOES seem to enhance my enjoyment of things, which is important for anyone, to enjoy the life they have been given, if they can. It's a little paranoic and scary, but people have taught me that that FEAR is actually an interesting part of the PROCESS if you can remember it will soon be OVER. Which is a great property it does NOT share with alcohol. For me, alcohol has become a YEARS-LONG committment should I fall, and, at 68, I don't have a lot of those left in me.
"420 Friendly AA Meetings" refer to Alcoholics Anonymous gatherings where attendees are accepting and understanding of cannabis use. These meetings recognize that individuals may be in recovery from alcohol addiction while also using marijuana for various reasons, whether medicinal or recreational. While the concept of 420 friendly AA meetings may be somewhat controversial within traditional recovery circles, it acknowledges the complexities of substance use and seeks to provide support without judgment. In areas like Kingston where cannabis consumption is legal, services like weed delivery Kingston might play a role in the lives of those attending these meetings, offering convenience and accessibility for individuals managing their recovery journey alongside their cannabis use. Ultimately, the goal remains to foster a supportive community where individuals can find understanding and healing regardless of their substance use history.