ARE YOU DUAL ADDICTED
I'm in my
twenty fifth year of recovery I had to become as desperate as a
dying person could be in order to accept and surrender to my
disease, my attitude, and my concept of life as I knew it. trying
to build greater self-confidence and self-esteem, in revovery, I
have been given the confidence, trust and unconditional love,
that has helped me thru my pain, fear, anger, loneliness,
hopelessness, and confusion of the past, thru the apprehension of
the holidays, and other special events, in times of distress or
agitation, thru turmoil, and physical craving ot the allergy of
alcohol, accepting God's love and hope for a prosperous future,
to follow the A.A. principles, and traditions, with consistency
in my actions making me, honest, trustworthy, and responsible today.
1 "Dr. Bob didn't think we could do anything
well unless we practice it. including A.A. He said to do a good
job in A.A. We should practice, acquiring the spirit of service.
We should attempt to acquire some faith, which isn't easily done,
But he thought faith can be acquired; it can be acquired slowly;
it has to be cultivated. this is not easy. That's one reason why
to some people our spiritual teaching is difficult. They don't
want to find out to much about it, for various personal reasons.
Another
thing that is difficult is tolerance. We are all inclined to have
closed minds, pretty tightly closed.
But
it's quite important that we do acquire tolerance towards the
other fellow's ideas. also we need a lot of humility."
It's
only thru God's grace, and a lot of leg work, that we get sober,
we should be very greatful that we have been given the privileged
to stay sober. our strength and hope comes from Him, We all
should have a very humble attitude for what He has given us we
should never cease to be grateful for whatever blessings come our
way.
When
it comes to living life on lifes terms it doesn't make any
difference whether we're drunk or whether we're sober. either
way, we're all after the same things in life, love, happiness,
security, peace of mind. The trouble was the as addicts we
demanded more and more than we deserved. If we had taking time
for God's way, we would have been given peace and happiness, that
we could enjoy, anyone can get peace, happiness, and forgiveness,
if they just trust in
Him, this is the message of hope we can give to all who seek our
help.
I
guess in 63 year's, we haven't learned to much about humility, or
tolerance, and especially about fear, primarily fear of changing
what is considered different from the standards we hold dear to
us, even if we could
possibly be wrong, we must take a good
look at these fears.
Our
fellowship is made up more and more by people who are dual
addicted, therefore drugs are a big part of the newcomers
stories, if they are not made to feel welcome, and allowed to
share their complete experience, strength, and hope, then who is
going to help them recover from their alcoholism. Remember when
most of us got here, we didn't know what was really wrong with
us, it was only by sharing all of our stories, with others, that
we were able to receive help in our recovery.
2 Suppose,thou,
that we are approched by a drug addict who nevertheless has had a
genuine alcoholic history .There was a time when such a person
would have been rejected. many A.A.'s had the
almost comical notion that they were pure alcoholics-guzzlers only, no other
serious problems at all, when alcoholic ex-cons and drug users
first turned up there was much pious indignation ." what
will people think?" chanted the pure alcoholic. Happily this
foolishness has long since past..." (or
has it ?)
It's
just as foolish to think that there are very many pure drug
addicts floating around in 1998) Alcohol is a drug (CNH2N+1OH) it
has been a drug since the beginning of time nothing in this world
will change this fact, changing our literature will not change
our membership for the good of all. It is more conceivable to
start a controversy that could be the beginning of the demise of
our fellowship as a whole, we must set our fear's aside and let
the changes happen, the issue of singleness of purpose, in this
ever changing world, could very well destroy us as a viable part
of today's society in the treatment of our disease. Lets stick to
our primary purpose, which is to reach out to help anyone
I am
responsible...
When
anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help,
I want the
hand of A.A. always to be there.
And for
that: I am responsible
If
you want to know why your group is becoming stagnant just check
the way your group treats the dual addicted newcomers. Its time
we took our heads out of the sand and face the fact that alcohol
is just as much a drug as any other drug. Let's stop making this
the biggest issue in A.A. Lets stop fighting each other accepting
change is the very same principle we use to stay clean and sober.
It's time we all unite so we can all recover and help those who
come after us.
Going
into the twenty first century it is absurd to think we are any
better than the average addict of that other kind some have been
fighting to keep out because of our closed minds. It's ironic
because we are just plain average addicts in sheep's clothing,
the battle will be lost by them simply by attrition,since the
drug explosion of the sixty's our fellowship has been growing in
the number of dual addicted people.
Do
people who don't have a problem with the drug alcohol belong in
A.A. probably not but they are welcome to attend our open
meeting, besides that we probably would not find a great many who
are not dual addicted in these times
We
must change with the tide, and show the newcomers of today, their
experiences must be shared in their own way, dual addiction has
always been with us and dual addiction is here to stay, we in the
fellowship must give these people the same kind of unconditional
love, forgiveness, understanding and most importantly tolerance,
the same things we received, when we arrived at the doors of this
God given fellowship.
Change
is an absolute, growth is optional, but we must continue to grow
or we will all parish, in a sea of drug addiction, Yes !
addiction from the drug alcohol, as well as street drugs, or
prescription drugs, we can not hide behind a screen and only look
at part of the problem of today's world, after all we are not
purist !
Are we?
If
you don't like what is being said at the podium, take your
comments to your business meeting for a group conscience
discussion, make a group statement reflecting the groups opinion, not your own, To
tell someone, especially a newcomer,
in an open forum like on the floor of a speaker meeting, or in an
open discussion meeting, they don't belong can
only add to their bewilderment frustration and self-esteem. To me
as a member of A.A. for the past twenty four years, it is embarrassing and humiliating to have someone being ostracized because they are
a little different than me.
When
I hear these comments at meetings "you don't belong here
" or "I don't want to here about your drug addiction,
find another program for that problem" or "were here to
talk about alcohol not drugs" I can't even imagine how
hopeless and despairing this could be if I was that person,
suffering from the dual addiction of alcohol and drugs, thinking
I was to be cast out, before I could even get to know who or what
I was.
Tradition
one states "this we owe to A.A's future: To place our common
welfare first; To keep our fellowship united,. for upon A.A.
unity depend our lives, and the lives of all those who will come
after us"
Tradition
two states "The
ultimate authority" is the
spiritual concept of the "group conscience" It;s voice is heard when a well-informed group
gathers to arrive at a group
decision. Minority ideas should get
thoughtful attention, remember, the first and second tradition go
along with the group conscience, the presence we newcomers felt
in those rooms, was the same as the group conscience, and it was
real when they welcomed us in, setting absolutely no barriers,
rules or conditions...." this should hold true today, let's
let everyone know it does.
Tradition
three shows us that we've thrown away all membership rules and
regulations, that might keep you out. We want you to have the same chance
for sobriety, that we had. "We
aren't a bit afraid you'll harm us, never mind how twisted or
violent you my be" we have decided to be " inclusive....never
exclusive"
Who
determines whether or not newcomers qualify, whether they do want
to stop drinking? Obviously, nobody except the newcomers
themselves; everybody else simply has to take his word for it, in
fact, .they don't even have to say it aloud. We are alive because
the road to A.A. stayed open to us. How will the dual addicted
newcomer ever know? If they can't share their stories at
meetings, like we were able to share, all our related
experiences. To hear
is to identify, let's give the dual addict, alcoholic the same
chance we were given
Give
them the prospective to help build character and spiritual
values, Some people have been conditioned to believe the horrors
of life instead of the wonders of life, they have been given a
despicable value system given to them, in early childhood and are
now being ostracized, because they have tried on their own to
change their lives in the past, and have failed, should we also
ostracize them?
Please
give them a chance to prove how good a person they really are,
help them to heal the past and work on the future. It's time to
stop punishing and to start with the healing. Help guiding them
thru our twelve steps, to build greater self-confidence and
self-esteem, to look for solutions to their problems, instead of
living in the problems.
A
group may make a group conscience statement such as: "We in
this group have decided, because of the increasing number of dual
addicted members, we will talk about alcohol and other related
drugs at this meeting" or " to give everyone a chance
to speak, we will ask that you speak only once at this
meeting" Statements such as these define the feeling of the
group, some people may consider this a special interest group,
but in reality tradition four tells us" it's just the
conscience of that group, because the local group is free to work
out it's own customs".
Tradition
five reminds us that " Groups should remember their
"one primary purpose" No matter how different our own
personal concerns, we are all bound together by one common
responsibility, to carry the message to the suffering
alcoholic" even
if he is dual addicted the message is the same.
Tradition
nine asks us to "Remember those who take part in service
work are assuming
responsibility to represent their
group or A.A.not taken
authority to express their own
opinion, in behalf of their group, or position in the service
structure.
Our General Service Office
is just a clearinghouse for A.A. information, offering
suggestion's based on experiences reported to it by the groups
thru their General Service Representative.
2 Now
then what can be done ? Very effective answers to problems other
than freedom from alcohol have always been found thru special
purpose groups, some of them operating within A.A. and some on
the outside. (
tradition six, never endorse or lend our name, out side groups
can't be considered A.A. groups ) in
conclusion, I want to say that throughout A.A.'s history, most of
our special purpose groups have accomplished very wonderful
things There is great reason to believe that those A.A.'s who are
now working in the grim regions of narcotics addiction will
achieve equal success In A.A. ,, the group has strict
limitations, (tradition three, what limitations ? we have no
membership rules ) but the individual has scarcely any.'' (tradition three again non
conformity to anything)
1 The four
absolutes, as we called them, were the only yardsticks we had in
the early days, before the steps. I think the absolutes still
hold god and scan be extremely helpful. I have found at times
that a question arises, and I want to do the right thing, but the
answer is not obvious. Almost always, if I measure my decision
carefully by the yardstick of absolute
honesty, absolute unselfishness, absolute purity, and absolute
love, and it checks up pretty well
with those four, then my answer can't be very far out of the way.
If, however, I do that and I'm still not to satisfied with the
answer, I usually consult with some friend whose judgment, in
this particular case, would be very much better than mine. But
usually the absolutes can help you to reach your own personal
decision
1
dr. Bob co-founders pamphlet
2
bill w. Problems other than alcohol pamphlet
6-20-98 written by
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