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The Marina Dock Newsletter June 2007

"In 1942, members from San Francisco brought the first A.A. meeting into San Quentin Prison at the request of the Warden Clinton T. Duffy. This example led to A.A.'s cooperation with the court systems, including direct communications with judges and parole and probation officials. The sole purpose of this Twelfth Step work, then and now, was to carry A.A.'s message to the still suffering alcoholic. To fulfill that purpose, A.A.'s have learned how to share A.A. information within the court system." (According to A.A. Guidelines, Cooperating with Court, D.W.I. and Similar Programs, published by G.S.O. in New York). So began a long and enduring A.A. tradition.

A.A. long ago made a commitment to accept within its fold those who are still on the fence, who may not identify as alcoholics and who don't really want to be in a meeting. This has been one of the most exemplary commitments A.A. has made over the years to the community-at-large: its willingness to offer to individuals not yet blessed with the gift of conscious desperation an opportunity to find within themselves the desire to stop drinking. The funny thing is, this sounds just like me in my first few meetings except that I wasn't sent by the courts, a probation officer or a treatment professional, but instead by my own pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization.

So, I have to ask myself, "Does this make me more likely to stay sober, more able to help other alcoholics or more loving and tolerant than those who arrive in A.A. via the proverbial nudge from the judge?" Probably not. As a matter of fact, the very first person who extended the hand of welcome to me in an A.A. meeting was a gentleman who had originally come to A.A. through DUI court. He is still here, eleven years later. So why, then, do some groups refuse to sign court slips and, by default, make second-class citizens out of those who come to A.A. through the legal system? This has long been a source of embarrassment for me as an A.A. member and as someone who has worked professionally and privately with DUI offenders and Proposition 36 (treatment rather than incarceration) probationers and parolees. That some meetings even specify in the schedules: "No Court Slips Signed" sounds to me judgmental and intolerant. Of course, any group can do as they please but that doesn't mean others can't question them.

It seems to me that rather than refusing to cooperate, we should show tolerance and love towards those who are in fact suffering from our disease. Who knows? They came. They just might come to. They might even come to believe. Several studies conducted at major universities have concluded beyond question that treatment, whether traditional "self-help groups" like A.A., or professionally provided, works no matter how you get there. In the interest of A.A.'s tradition of not aligning with any outside enterprise, I won't list my sources here. Any interested member can feel free to contact me through Central Office. However, I would like to share some important points. One study reports that: "A group of men who completed court-ordered treatment for alcohol and drug problems reported lower intrinsic motivation at the beginning of treatment, but five years later, reported the same rates of abstinence, employment and re-arrest as peers who sought help on their own." This just confirms the wisdom of my sponsor who says that it doesn't matter why you go to a meeting as long as you go and that the only way to do the twelve steps wrong is not to do them at all.

And this, "The investigators believe that, in addition to the other positive aspects of treatment, mandated patients may acquire motivation to change. "The high level of camaraderie... where these individuals interacted with self-motivated peers, may have contributed to a shift in attitude."" If this ain't one drunk working with (and on) another, I don't know what is. Once again, the wisdom of A.A. becomes part and parcel of professional treatment practices. So, every A.A. member can of course decide for themselves how to approach "mandated" newcomers. But I remind you (and me) that love and tolerance is our code and quote once again from the A.A. Guidelines mentioned above: "As A.A. members we are not qualified to judge, endorse or oppose any other program in the field of alcoholism, nor is it a good idea to give the impression that we are professional, scientific experts. We can help only with our own experience."

From the May 2007 Issue of "The Point" San Francisco AA's Central Office Newsletter.

"I will try to describe the experience as best I may, knowing that anything I can say will be quite inadequate. Many years before we were married, while I was an engineering student, we went for a walk into the hills. It was during this time that my companion manifested the symptoms of asthma. She has since said that she suffered during times of physical exertion, and during this expedition the symptoms were painful and extremely worrying to me. I had a feeling of despair and wondered what I would do. Even in those early days I was much attached to her, and to have to stand by and see her afflicted in this way drove me to desperation. We struggled on up the hill, and the next thing I noted was that the whole locality was illumined by an extraordinary, bright light. It was a cloudy and dull day and this extremely intense illumination did not appear to originate in any fixed centre, but was diffused equally throughout the entire terrain. Accompanying the light was the sense of the presence of an irresistible power wholly and utterly benevolent, and as far as I was concerned a feeling of complete happiness and well-being quite impossible to describe. The certainty of all-pervading and immutable love was so tremendous that I simply went on up the hill completely absorbed in this extraordinary experience and quite oblivious of the material surroundings. After an appreciable interval--I think a few minutes--the light gradually faded and I said to my companion, 'Did you see that?'"But she had noticed nothing unusual, and so the experience was obviously psychical and not physical. However, she turned to me and said 'My asthma is all gone'--and this disease has never reappeared."

C. A. M.