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Old 03-28-2024, 01:08 PM
  # 6 (permalink)  
LucyIntheGarden
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Join Date: Jul 2023
Posts: 142
So glad you asked so I could clarify!

Al-Anon is a 12-step support group for friends and family of alcoholics. Nar-Anon is for friends and family of narcotics addicts. Al-Anon has more local meetings usually and friends/family of drug addicts are also welcome to these meetings. The recovery approach for friends/family is mostly the same. You can google al-anon.org or nar-anon and find meetings in your town. I'm sorry, don't have exact web addresses at hand.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is for anyone who wants to stop drinking using the 12-Step program which began many decades ago. Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is for anyone who wants to stop using drugs. So these groups are not for you, though some meetings are "Open" to anyone who might want to attend to learn more about addiction recovery. As well there is CA, which is Cocaine Anonymous.

All of these 12-Step programs generally meet in rooms rented in churches or community centers, etc.

There are other recovery programs as well for addicts and their families. These are the most widely available.

You can also attend virtual Al-Anon and Nar-Anon meetings, there will be links on the group websites. But at the in-person meeting, you will have access to several free pamphlets as well as books about recovery.

If you wish to start by simply reading at home, you can order through Amazon or other online bookstores the book "Codependent No More" by Melodie Beattie and other books on codependent recovery. I also very much like "Getting Them Sober" by Toby Rice Drews, a book which is addressed to spouses of alcoholics primarily, but also applies to anyone affected by someone in active addiction.

Just one more note: please keep in mind that some substances are extremely dangerous if TOUCHED by a child. Or is even in the atmosphere of a room, if I understand correctly. I am not well-educated about this, but I am pretty sure it is fentanyl which is most dangerous in a child's environment and fentanyl is now commonly mixed into cocaine, heroin, and other forms of narcotics.
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