At times I wonder how I stayed sober going to groups in my local area. I assume it is because I had a sponsor who lived in the city (30 mins away) and shared the program with me.
Round here, you don't have to get a sponsor or work the steps but you can do service (and boss everyone around) and you can share about anything for as long as you want, regardless of time or how many others are in the meeting or what time the meeting finshes.
You can also smoke dope and gamble excessively. More benefits include being able to attend AA for 20 years and despite lapsing a lot, claim 20 years of soberity which is recognised by other members - there's a few of these.
I'm sure you get the point. It's quite bad. Sometimes it's worse than others. But as I said, I stayed sober attending for so many years before choosing to go into the city to meetings which IMO healthier.