Thanks for your replies and your experiences. I don't want to set off a firestorm, but I went to Al-Anon as a kid because my Dad was an alcoholic. Nothing there ever resonated with me. I have been to meetings because I was ordered to (DUI.) All I really needed to do was be faced with someone I loved to see how alcohol was CAPTAIN DESTRUCTO in life. Now, happily, I don't really drink (maybe 5 glasses of wine this year) and don't have ANY cravings. I can't say this was true my whole life. I have definitely been through periods when I felt a frequent "happy hour" pull toward a fine Chardonnay. I don't know why, but that went away. Maybe I became more aware of life and its meanings, and less obsessed with wine and escape. I guess that's why I think it can happen for him. This is my first day to this forum (or any for that matter) and I have been reading the RR/AA posts - this is not a fake post. I have done a fair amount of reading over the years, and have seen many statistics about recovery/relapse/treatment/non-treatment. Probably don't have much confidence in the numbers, because I probably know many people who drink every night after work, get up the next day and do it again who aren't interested in why they are buffering their lives. I am sure these people aren't represented in the numbers. What I feel about any "program" is the same as I feel about organized religion. I am always suspicious when there is only one way to heaven, and you can only belong to one group to get there. That isn't a God I can believe in.