Originally Posted by
MiSoberbio 
First of all, I want to clarify the title of this thread – what I don't understand is why NA and AA are separate organizations, as well as Nar-Anon and Al-Anon. I do, however, understand why NA and Nar-Anon or AA and Al-Anon, respectively, are separate.
By no means am I asking this because I want to spearhead a union of the organizations -- I simply don't understand why each pair (NA & AA and Nar-Anon & Al-Anon) are separate. Are they so distinct from each other? Is there a separate culture for alcoholics than for addicts who use other substances? The same goes for friends and families – is an alcoholic's spouse or child, etc. dealing with different issues than a friend or family member of a substance addict?
Again, I'm asking because I don't understand, not because I have an ulterior motive. On the boards here I've encountered people who say things like "I'm an alcoholic who would always end up snorting coke" and in my experience with my companion, he would often drug himself with alcohol (to start), but sometimes it would be pot that he'd start with and move on from there.... or sometimes he'd just drink....
These are the sorts of things I don't understand. Isn't alcohol a drug just like any of the other substances that people use? [Obviously, I'm talking about the addiction process, not the actual chemical makeup of any particular drug.] And isn't a heroin addict dealing with the same issues about using as an alcoholic? [Again, I'm not equating the drugs; I'm asking "Isn't the underlying addiction similar/the same?"] I ask because I'm ignorant and I'd like to understand things better.
And so with Nar-Anon and Al-Anon – what makes them different? I personally go to Nar-Anon and have never been to an Al-Anon meeting, although a great deal of the literature that we read in my groups comes directly from Al-Anon. Is there a reason why these groups are separate that I have no clue about? Are the issues of acceptance, detachment, control, manipulation, self esteem, grief, letting go, etc., etc., different in each organization?
I would greatly appreciate to hear what people have to say (those with experience in any of the organizations I mentioned)... maybe I'm just wasting time that I should be spending working on myself, but the question has been sitting in the back of my mind for a while and I just decided to let it out.
Thanks.
Jeez, replying/posting on forums requires a tedious process of registration. So I was actually trying to find out what the differences were between the two organizations, not the separation of alcohol and narcotic divisions and came across your post, which likely you wont read my reply as it is 5 years overdue but someone else might.
So in your post you made specific inquiry pertaining to a possibility of there being a distinct subculture that is unique to either alcohol users and other substance users. To my understanding this is the principle which has led to the separation between designations. However, as you also mention, the specific substance a person has developed an addiction toward is an aspect of addiction that is, from a macro perspective, mostly inconsequential. When observing addiction from this macro scope the fundamental processes involved with conditioning behavior are consistent which likely relies on operant conditioning methods, although the reward/punishment structure is somewhat obscured from how these processes would typically be viewed.
As you inferred, there is a unique culture common to the varied substances/mechanisms that facilitate the addictive process, however, I do not believe this alone fully explains the separation of alcohol/substance programs. I believe that cultural perceptions and the associated negative connotation to alcohol vs other types is the primary force which has created such a division. Because of the lesser degree of stigmatization that is applied to alcohol users vs alternative addictive modes this disparate perception has manifested to create the division of these two organization branches. Sex, gambling, food, theft or any distinct addictive mechanism all inherently operate under the same principles and each also have characteristics unique to its specific manifestation. There is also some variance biochemically in how the addictive process functions at the molecular level in addition to the distinct social/cultural elements common to any particular substance/behavior facilitating addiction.
The premise qualifying my opinion is derived from observing only a separation applied to alcohol and not being applied to any other substance/behavior. Alcohol is absolutely a drug and the differences between alcohol and marijuana are equivalent to that of marijuana and heroin or alcohol and heroin. The manner in which society views and engages the topic of consuming alcohol is elevated from the plane relegated to substances that are deemed unacceptable by society and subsequently prohibited and made illegal. This same state of inflated morality exists between opiate addicts who are prescribed the drug as opposed to those who consume the prohibited forms.
That’s my two cents on the subject anyways.