ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS® is a fellowship of menand women who share their experience, strengthand hope with each other that they may solvetheir common problem and help others to recoverfrom alcoholism. • The only requirement for membership is adesire to stop drinking. There are no dues or feesfor A.A. membership; we are self-supportingthrough our own contributions.• A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination,politics, organization or institution; does not wishto engage in any controversy; neither endorsesnor opposes any causes.• Our primary purpose is to stay sober and helpother alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

Copyright © by The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.;reprinted with permission

Copyright © The A.A. Grapevine, Inc., February 1958Reprinted with permission

by A.A. World Services, Inc.

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Problems otherthan alcohol

By Bill W.(co-founder, Alcoholics Anonymous)

Perhaps there is no suffering more horrible thandrug addiction, especially that kind which is pro-duced by morphine, heroin, and other narcotics.Such drugs twist the mind, and the awful pro-cess of withdrawal racks the sufferer’s body.Compared with the addict and his woes, we alcoholics are pikers. Barbiturates, carried toextremes, can be almost as bad. In A.A. we have members who have made great recoveriesfrom both the bottle and the needle. We alsohave a great many others who were — or still are — victimized by “goofballs” and even by thenew tranquilizers.

Consequently, this problem of drug addictionin its several forms lies close to us all. It stirs ourdeepest interest and sympathy. In the worldaround us, we see legions of men and womenwho are trying to cure or escape their problemsby this means. Many A.A.’s, especially those whohave suffered these particular addictions, arenow asking, “What can we do about drugs —within our Fellowship, and without?”

Because several projects to help pill and drugtakers are already afloat — projects which useA.A.’s Twelve Steps and in which A.A. membersare active — there has arisen a whole series ofquestions as to how these efforts, already meet-ing with not a little success, can be rightly relatedto the A.A. groups and to A.A. as a whole.

Specifically, here is a list of questions: (1) Cana nonalcoholic pill or drug addict become an A.A.member? (2) Can such a person be brought, as avisitor, to an open A.A. meeting for help and inspi-ration? (3) Can a pill or drug taker, who also has agenuine alcoholic history, become a member ofA.A.? (4) Can A.A.’s who have suffered both alco-holism and addiction form themselves into spe-

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cial-purpose groups to help other A.A.’s who arehaving drug trouble? (5) Could such a special-purpose group call itself an A.A. group? (6) Couldsuch a group also include nonalcoholic drugusers? (7) If so, should these nonalcoholic pill ordrug users be led to believe that they havebecome A.A. members? (8) Is there any objectionif A.A.’s who have had the dual problem join out-side groups, such as Narcotics Anonymous?

While some of these questions almost answerthemselves, others do not. But all of them, Ithink, can readily be resolved to the satisfactionof everyone if we have a good look at the A.A.Traditions which apply, and another look at ourlong experience with the special-purpose groupsin which A.A.’s are active today — both withinand without our Society.

Now there are certain things that A.A. cannotdo for anybody, regardless of what our severaldesires or sympathies may be.

Our first duty, as a society, is to insure our own survival. Therefore, we have to avoid dis-tractions and multipurpose activity. An A.A.group, as such, cannot take on all the personalproblems of its members, let alone the problemsof the whole world.

Sobriety — freedom from alcohol — throughthe teaching and practice of the Twelve Steps isthe sole purpose of an A.A. group. Groups haverepeatedly tried other activities, and they havealways failed. It has also been learned that there isno possible way to make nonalcoholics into A.A.members. We have to confine our membership toalcoholics, and we have to confine our A.A.groups to a single purpose. If we don’t stick tothese principles, we shall almost surely collapse.And if we collapse, we cannot help anyone.

To illustrate, let’s review some typical experi-ences. Years ago, we hoped to give A.A. member-ship to our families and to certain nonalcoholicfriends who had been greatly helpful. They hadtheir problems, too, and we wanted them in ourfold. Regretfully, we found that this was impossi-ble. They couldn’t make straight A.A. talks; nor,save a few exceptions, could they identify withnew A.A. members. Hence, they couldn’t do con-tinuous Twelfth Step work.

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Close to us as these good folks were, we hadto deny them membership. We could only wel-come them at our open meetings.

Therefore, I see no way of making nonalco-holic addicts into A.A. members. Experience saysloudly that we can admit no exceptions, eventhough drug users and alcoholics happen to befirst cousins of a sort. If we persist in trying this,I’m afraid it will be hard on the drug user him-self, as well as on A.A. We must accept the factthat no nonalcoholic, whatever his affliction, canbe converted into an alcoholic A.A. member.

Suppose, though, that we are approached by adrug addict who nevertheless has had a genuinealcoholic history. There was a time when such aperson would have been rejected. Many earlyA.A.’s had the almost comical notion that theywere pure alcoholics — guzzlers only, no otherserious problems at all. When alcoholic ex-consand drug users first turned up, there was muchpious indignation. “What will people think?”chanted the pure alcoholics. Happily, this foolish-ness has long since evaporated.

One of the best A.A.’s I know is a man whohad been seven years on the needle before hejoined up with us. But prior to that, he had been aterrific alcoholic, and his history proved it.Therefore, he could qualify for A.A., and this hecertainly did. Since then, he has helped manyA.A.’s and some non-A.A.’s with their pill anddrug troubles. Of course, that is strictly his affairand in no way the business of the A.A. group towhich he belongs. In his group, he is a memberbecause, in actual fact, he is an alcoholic.

Such is the sum of what A.A. cannot do — fornarcotics addicts or for anybody else.

Now, then, what can be done? Very effectiveanswers to problems other than freedom fromalcohol have always been found through special-purpose groups, some of them operating withinA.A. and some on the outside.

Our first special-purpose group was createdway back in 1938. A.A. needed a world serviceoffice and some literature. It had a service prob-lem that could not be met by an A.A. group, assuch. Therefore, we formed a board of trustees

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(the Alcoholic Foundation) to look after thesematters. Some of the trustees were alcoholics,and some were nonalcoholics. Obviously, thiswas not an A.A. group. Instead, it was a group ofA.A.’s and non-A.A.’s who devoted themselves toa special task.

Another example: In 1940, the New YorkA.A.’s got lonesome and installed themselves in aclub. The club had directors and dues-paying A.A.members. For a long time, the club members anddirectors thought that they were an A.A. group.But after a while, it was found that lots of A.A.’swho attended meetings at Old 24th didn’t careone hoot for the club, as such. Hence, the man-agement of the club (for its social purpose) had tobe completely separated from the management ofthe A.A. group that came there to hold its meet-ings. It took years of hassling to prove that youcouldn’t put an A.A. group into the club businessand make it stick. Everywhere today, club managements and their dues-paying membersare seen as special-purpose groups, not as A.A. groups.

The same thing has happened with drying-outplaces and Twelfth Step houses managed byA.A.’s. We never think of these activities as A.A.groups. They are clearly seen as the functions ofinterested individuals who are doing helpful andoften very valuable jobs.

Some years ago, a number of us A.A.’s wantedto enter the field of alcohol education. I was oneof them. We associated ourselves with some non-alcoholics, likewise interested. The nonalcoholicswanted A.A.’s because they needed our experi-ence, philosophy, and general slant. Things werefine until some of us A.A.’s publicly disclosed ourmembership in the educational group. Rightaway, the public got the idea that this particularbrand of alcohol education and AlcoholicsAnonymous were one and the same thing. It tookyears to change this impression. But now thatthis correction has been made, plenty of A.A.members work in this field, and we are glad that they do.

It was thus proven that, as individuals, we cancarry the A.A. experience and ideas into any out-side field whatever, provided that we guard

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anonymity and refuse to use the A.A. name formoney-raising or publicity purposes.

I’m very sure that these experiences of yester-day can be the basis of resolving today’s confu-sion about the narcotics problem. This problemis new, but the A.A. experience and Traditionswhich can solve it are already old and time-test-ed. I think we might sum it up like this:

We cannot give A.A. membership to nonalco-holic narcotics addicts. But, like anyone else,they should be able to attend certain open A.A.meetings, provided, of course, that the groupsthemselves are willing.

A.A. members who are so inclined should beencouraged to band together in groups to dealwith sedative and drug problems. But they oughtto refrain from calling themselves A.A. groups.

There seems to be no reason why severalA.A.’s cannot join, if they wish, with a group ofstraight addicts to solve the alcohol and the drugproblem together. But, obviously, such a dual-purpose group should not insist that it be calledan A.A. group, nor should it use the A.A. name inits title. Neither should its straight-addict contin-gent be led to believe that they have become A.A.members by reason of such an association.

Certainly, there is every good reason for inter-ested A.A.’s to join with outside groups workingon the narcotics problem, provided theTraditions of anonymity and of no endorsementsare respected.

In conclusion, I want to say that throughoutA.A.’s history, most of our special-purposegroups have accomplished very wonderfulthings. There is great reason to hope that thoseA.A.’s who are now working in the grim regionsof narcotics addiction will achieve equal success.

In A.A., the group has strict limitations, butthe individual has scarcely any. Remembering toobserve the Traditions of anonymity and nonen-dorsement, he can carry A.A.’s message intoevery troubled area of this very troubled world.

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