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Post Info TOPIC: Been sober for a week now.


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Been sober for a week now.
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I've been an addict since my late teens. I'm trying to be sober and have succeeded for a week now. How many survivors here ? Share your experiences



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-pam-


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I am happy you are getting sober.  But alcoholics can best identify with another alcoholic, drug addicts with another drug addict, etc.  This is the "magic" that  brought Bill and Bob together to bring about the birth of Alcoholics Anonymous and it is a 2-way street that every non-alcoholic drug addict who attends AA meeting selfishly overlooks.

NA claims that  "Membership is open to all drug addicts, regardless of the particular drug or combination of drugs used", but that isn't consistent with its name because NAs falsely believe that when NA teaches that alcohol is a drug, but it is not a narcotic, that alcoholics come under the NA umbrella and that merely drinking alcohol makes a drug addict an alcoholic and thus qualifies for AA attendance at closed meetings and membership. NA doesn't accept smokers, but that is a nicotine or drug addiction and marginally qualifies as mood altering or a narcotic. Note that for legal purposes the U.S. government has not classified nicotine as a narcotic and I have seen one definition of narcotics that includes all mood altering substances.

Even some drug addicts see a difference among "drugs", otherwise there would be no Heroin, Cocaine, Meth, and Marijuana Anonymous, etc.  That difference is why AA is not AAA, All Addictions Anonymous.

Filling some of the gaps, NA teaches that alcohol is a drug to warn against substitution like AA used to teach that an alcoholic isn't "sober" if he/she has consumed any mood altering substances (and narcotics are defined as a mood altering substances).

Regarding AA, a non-alcoholic drug addict can't work AA's 1st step so that should be the end of the controversy.  The long form of the AA 3rd traditions says:  "Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation."  Contrast that against the concise, but imprecise, short form of the 3rd Tradition that non-alcoholic drug addicts cling to:  "The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking."  Funny, NA has no long form of the Traditions it adapted with permission from AA to better explain its meaning to help its members understand the concise, but imprecise, short form.

The long form of the 5th Tradition rounds out this hat trick:  "Each Alcoholics Anonymous group ought to be a spiritual entity having but one primary purpose---that of carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers."

 

The 1987 General Service Conference made these statements available as an A.A. service piece for those groups who wish to use them:

This is a closed meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. In support of A.A's singleness of purpose, attendance at closed meetings is limited to persons who have a desire to stop drinking. If you think you have a problem with alcohol, you are welcome to attend this meeting. We ask that when discussing our problems, we confine ourselves to those problems as they relate to alcoholism.

This is an open meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. We are glad you are all here---especially newcomers. In keeping with our singleness of purpose and our Third Tradition which states that "The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking," we ask that all who participate confine their discussion to their problems with alcohol."

I suppose it is no coincidence that non-alcoholic drug addicts attending AA meetings ignore these requests.

I could make a comment about the dishonesty involved in a program that demands rigorous honesty....

Having said all that, you may better served in the NA forum.



-- Edited by SoberInMI on Thursday 22nd of June 2017 09:43:59 AM

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I am also sober a vweek now Pamela. I'm not new to the program. I had put 10 years sober time before I picked up again . I know that with the help of AA I can do it again. Good Luck. Keep us updated.

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