The other factor that hasn't been mentioned is that in some places, AA operates effectively as a sober mafia, and has spent years building influence with local rehabs and boards that certify them. A guy I know in LifeRing discovered this in a northern CA county, trying to get the local agencies that set rules on where people are mandated to go after DUIs and the like to follow the law and let people have secular alternatives. Stone walls. He had to threaten legal action to get them to talk to him. Another guy I know in the Denver area actually got death threats (Yes! Incredible!) from local AA people for starting up "competing" secular recovery groups on AA turf. So some of the resistance that exists has been carefully orchestrated by people who view rehabs as a source of new members and potential converts. Just the way it is.