A Drug is a Drug is A Drug: Not Really
The following Article is written by CLiff B, member of the primary purpose Dallas Group.
One of the problems existing in the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous is the confusion that has been brought in from the treatment industry which combines alcoholism with drug/narcotic addiction and terms it “substance abuse” or “chemical dependency”. The Information Bulletin F-2 is one of the A.A. publications that addresses this problem.
While there maybe several similarities, there are very substantial differences between alcoholism and any form of addiction. When it comes to drug/narcotic addiction, one of the most outstanding differences is the fact that it is estimated that only about 10% of our population possesses the physical deficiencies that lead to alcoholism while just about anyone and everyone can become addicted to certain drugs/narcotics.
It is a well established fact that the use of several drugs/narcotics will produce an addiction to that drug/narcotic in a very short period of time. That is not so for the drug alcohol. The majority of folks can tolerate only relatively small amounts of alcohol at a given moment. If they drink too much, the liver senses an excess amount of a toxic substance and causes the person to vomit. The normal person will quit, go home and usually won’t touch another drop for a significant period of time. Not so with the real alcoholic. The chronic alcoholic, on vomiting, will immediately seek another drink.
The alcoholic will experience “black-outs”; alcoholic amnesia. Most drugs do not produce such an occurrence. The alcoholic awakens from sleep, or comes to from being “passed out” and finds it necessary to have a drink, at once. Chronic alcoholism develops to a point where the alcoholic is unable to tolerate food. There are other differences as well.
In 1953, members of Alcoholics Anonymous, who also were addicted to drugs/narcotics, and wanting to preserve the effectiveness of the singleness of purpose, asked for and received approval from the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous to found a Fellowship to be called “Narcotics Anonymous”. Once that Fellowship adopted the Twelve Traditions of Narcotics Anonymous, they began to flourish and were successful in helping addicts abstain from the drugs/narcotics that had gained control of their lives. Following the founding of NA, came Gamblers, Overeaters, Sex Addicts, Emotions, etc. Anonymous. Most of these were founded by alcoholic members of A.A. who were also victims of these other problems. As of this writing, there are over 200 anonymous fellowships which have borrowed and adapted the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous to meet some unique and well defined problem.
Since the effect of a particular drug/narcotic differs from the next, members of NA came to appreciate the singleness of purpose that had made Alcoholics Anonymous so successful, began to found Fellowships which focused on a particular drug/narcotic. Since 1982, approximately 20 such Fellowships have come into existence, each providing recovery from a specific drug/narcotic, i.e. Cocaine Anonymous, Drugs Anonymous, Pills Anonymous, Marijuana Anonymous, etc.
So, no, alcoholism and drug addiction are not the same. If they were, NA would not have been needed. And since there are now so many Fellowships using the Power of the Twelve Steps to solve their individual problems, it would appear that an addiction is not an addiction is not an addiction and none of them are the same as alcoholism!!!
One of the problems existing in the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous is the confusion that has been brought in from the treatment industry which combines alcoholism with drug/narcotic addiction and terms it “substance abuse” or “chemical dependency”. The Information Bulletin F-2 is one of the A.A. publications that addresses this problem.
While there maybe several similarities, there are very substantial differences between alcoholism and any form of addiction. When it comes to drug/narcotic addiction, one of the most outstanding differences is the fact that it is estimated that only about 10% of our population possesses the physical deficiencies that lead to alcoholism while just about anyone and everyone can become addicted to certain drugs/narcotics.
It is a well established fact that the use of several drugs/narcotics will produce an addiction to that drug/narcotic in a very short period of time. That is not so for the drug alcohol. The majority of folks can tolerate only relatively small amounts of alcohol at a given moment. If they drink too much, the liver senses an excess amount of a toxic substance and causes the person to vomit. The normal person will quit, go home and usually won’t touch another drop for a significant period of time. Not so with the real alcoholic. The chronic alcoholic, on vomiting, will immediately seek another drink.
The alcoholic will experience “black-outs”; alcoholic amnesia. Most drugs do not produce such an occurrence. The alcoholic awakens from sleep, or comes to from being “passed out” and finds it necessary to have a drink, at once. Chronic alcoholism develops to a point where the alcoholic is unable to tolerate food. There are other differences as well.
In 1953, members of Alcoholics Anonymous, who also were addicted to drugs/narcotics, and wanting to preserve the effectiveness of the singleness of purpose, asked for and received approval from the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous to found a Fellowship to be called “Narcotics Anonymous”. Once that Fellowship adopted the Twelve Traditions of Narcotics Anonymous, they began to flourish and were successful in helping addicts abstain from the drugs/narcotics that had gained control of their lives. Following the founding of NA, came Gamblers, Overeaters, Sex Addicts, Emotions, etc. Anonymous. Most of these were founded by alcoholic members of A.A. who were also victims of these other problems. As of this writing, there are over 200 anonymous fellowships which have borrowed and adapted the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous to meet some unique and well defined problem.
Since the effect of a particular drug/narcotic differs from the next, members of NA came to appreciate the singleness of purpose that had made Alcoholics Anonymous so successful, began to found Fellowships which focused on a particular drug/narcotic. Since 1982, approximately 20 such Fellowships have come into existence, each providing recovery from a specific drug/narcotic, i.e. Cocaine Anonymous, Drugs Anonymous, Pills Anonymous, Marijuana Anonymous, etc.
So, no, alcoholism and drug addiction are not the same. If they were, NA would not have been needed. And since there are now so many Fellowships using the Power of the Twelve Steps to solve their individual problems, it would appear that an addiction is not an addiction is not an addiction and none of them are the same as alcoholism!!!
Total Comments 7
Comments
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Absolutely agree and that's the way it was presented to me as well.
You will NOT here this at a treatment center I once attended and they will argue all of these points in AA meetings. I've seen it with my own eyes. These conselors will come to an AA meeting with a number of their clients, introduce themselves as addicts, and go on about how the Big Book was written so many years ago that it's obsolete. I swear. I've got friends in AA that will verify this as they've seen it with there own eyes. We eventually took control of this one meeting that went totally away from singleness of purpose so they left that meeting and found another one.
Last time I went to a meeting in my own home town, they were there and the AA people who run the meeting went around the room for the whole hour and discussed "singleness of purpose" and it all just seemed so childish to me.
It should be called "recovery soup" or something like that. IDK. I honestly wish NA was stronger in my home town so I could have a place to send one of my cousin's, but the guys in NA say most other addicts don't like NA meetings so much and they'd rather just go to AA and say they're alcoholics.
Our solution to this is to just close the meeting. So we have a few closed meetings in our town now.Posted 05-01-2009 at 03:13 PM by McGowdog
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Here in Calais Maine, we have the same problems. NA just can't seem to get a hold. The most recent attempt failed. I feel for all the addicts that come to AA as they just can't identify. The "recovery soup" type meetings here don't help the real alcoholic either. We have recently started a closed meeting and it is growing although the "recovery soup" type meeting people say that only "snobs" go there. What a message.
I was fortunate to be attracted to the few people that had changed by following the path as outlined in the Bigbook. I think AA (at least in this area) is heading back in the right direction.Posted 07-10-2009 at 12:35 PM by geothinkah - I was told to look for the similarities not the differences, but I am recovering from an addiction to amphetamines and AA meeting were really difficult for me. My wheels turned too fast and it seemed like I was trying to finish the person who was sharing sentences for them. It is almost unbearable. I have participated in NA and CA and they are much easier to relate to.Posted 08-01-2009 at 05:28 PM by brendadeetyson
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Doctor, Alcoholic, Addict
Hi,
I'm a new member on this site, but no new member to A.A., N.A. or C.A. (if C.A. even exists anymore). I AM an alcoholic. I am also a drug addict. I hated the N.A. meetings, at least here in the New Orleans area because there didn't seem to be much recovery going on. I felt like I was hanging out with a bunch of junkies who didn't have any drugs.
I prefer A.A. because that's the real deal. However there are snobs among us, myself included. I think its part of the disease. I always considered alcohol to be the lowest class drug of them all, being a pharamceutical connoisseur (it is a sedative hypnotic). I took my first drink at eleven years old and it was on. However, I must be a strange sort of alcoholic, because it makes me deathly ill, and even the thought of trying to drink to ease the hangover makes me shutter, as I tried it and it made me even sicker. I am truly allergic to the stuff. So I shifted to substances that didn't inflict so much pain, though I still drank, but not as much and not as often.
When I drink it leads me to use other drugs, and vise versa. It's all connected. I have left A.A. meetings feeling hopeless and dejected after having been shut down for mentioning drugs, which may have contributed in part to a relapse.
If the Big Book is to be our guide, and it is, there is a chapter titled "Doctor, Alcoholic, Addict" pg.439(3rd edition). They have recently changed the title, but the story is the same, where doctor Bob describes in detail his stuggle with drugs as well as alcohol. This should end the debate. Please read it, and then maybe even do a breif fourth step.
Final word: my wife has medical problems and has been addicted to strong narcotics. She hated it, went through withdrawals, prefering to endure terrible pain, and now only uses milder pain killers with great restraint, kind of like a normal drinker, dont you think?Posted 08-14-2009 at 05:40 AM by gtinney1 -
Doctor, Alcoholic, Addict
Quote:Originally Posted by gtinney1
Hi,
I'm a new member on this site, ..I AM an alcoholic. I am also a drug addict. ..story is the same, where doctor Bob describes in detail his stuggle with drugs as well as alcohol. ..
I respect AA & its traditions, but don't find drug addiction topics to be an issue in meetings I attend. Recreational drug use in the USA, particularly among high-school to college age youth, has been common for nearly 50 years. On one or two occasions in the past ten years of AA meetings, I've heard someone (over the age of 60) take issue w/ drug talk.
I wonder if 1930's popular culture influenced a more conservative approach to writing the Big Book than we'd see in the post-hippie '60's era? The book begins with references to both alcoholism & drug addiction in the Doctor's Opinion...
P.S.
The BB story gtinney cites refers to Dr. Paul O. , not Dr. Bob:
DOCTOR, ALCOHOLIC, ADDICT, page 449 (3rd Ed.) found in the 4th edition under: ACCEPTANCE WAS THE ANSWER, page 417
P.P.S.
Dr. Paul gave an interview where he supported AA's singleness of purpose, but added: "I think the story makes clear the truth that an alcoholic can also be an addict, and indeed that an alcoholic has a constitutional right to have as many problems as he wants!"
I need to focus on the solution; I'm grateful for SR posters of any persuasion.Posted 11-10-2009 at 01:46 PM by brother -
Hi im new to this but not new to AA and in the state Im from there also exist a problem and now we must contend with a program called "DRUG COURT". Im sure this is not new to many of you,and I feel much of the problem is caused by poor sponsership and a lack of understanding of the Traditions. I have witnessed more than one drug addict just sit in a AA meeting and never get what he really needs.Much has been written and published over the years about our singleness of purpose and the importance of it. I dont want to see anyone die but if I cant help you then what am I doing but slowly aiding in your death.Posted 03-27-2010 at 05:36 PM by GACOWBOY - In treatment here in Michigan, they made a point to explain to us addicts that we should not go to AA. Many people here in the program have had bad experiences with AA, ranging from being yelled at to being asked to leave. I found this utterly horifying, and to me this is quite obviously addict thinking resurfacing in a place that is supposed to be sanctuary from such things. Regardless of a drugs effects, from drinking to opiates - the mindset is really no different in my opinion. I found this so very discouraging, and looked at people in AA as just another group that hated us addicts.
However, upon leaving treatment and coming back home to Ann Arbor I was pleasantly surprised. The community of young people here is vibrant because of all the local colleges. Our biggest meetings happen to be AA, but around here the two groups see no differences in the other. We are not looking for what sets us apart because we all want the same exact thing. And we obtain it from working the exact same program. AA members freely come to NA, and are welcomed with open arms. And vice versa. Before you start making judgements about who does, and doesn't belong remember "Acceptance" from the Big Book. What is wrong with YOU that makes YOU uncomfortable with drug users at your meeting? Is it that they can't relate to you, or is it that YOU don't want to see how you can relate to them?Posted 12-31-2010 at 12:06 PM by wmdemeter
