3. What happens when other members in the group want to vote to allow drug addicts to share on their addiction but me as the GSR keeps trying to talk about singleness of purpose and steps and traditions, but I'm in the minority and I'm worried about the future of our group and AA in our area?
As a group member (and even as a GSR), I have one vote. I am one of the group. I was told once to 'go into the corner and count myself'.
I get to present views and explain them, but not to convince anyone I am right or persuade anyone to do anything. Others are responsible for their actions.
I belong to a group where I subscribe to the group conscience of what our primary purpose is. When I have discovered I subscribe to a different primary purpose, I have left and formed a new group. In one group, I wanted the primary purpose to be to discuss the programme of action set out in the first 164 pages of the Big Book. The majority simply wanted 'a safe place to share'. I left with love and remained friends.
People at my home group are alcoholics. They're also usually addicts or have issues in the areas of food, sex, and romance, and Al-Anonism. But it's AA, so we talk about alcoholism and refer to the other issues as an aside. We do not ban other issues from discussion but do not focus chiefly on them. In any case, the only purpose in talking about alcohol (or the other addictions) is to illustrate the principles of Step 1. There are 11 other steps plus 12 traditions and 12 concepts. Alcohol should be only a small part of the discussion. A group that is genuinely solution-focused will in any case prefer to talk about the solution. Leave the twelfth-step call and fellowship before and after the meeting to establish one-to-one identification with newcomers about drinking. Group meetings are not twelfth-step calls.
Why are the drug addicts (presuming they're not alcoholics) not going to NA, CA, DAA, HA, MA, CMA, or any of the many other fellowships? There are other fellowships that use the Big Book and also deal with drugs directly.
If those fellowships are weak, the job of AA members who also have drug histories is to help those fellowships become strong from within, not to write them off and subsume their (potential) members into AA.
If pure addicts are coming into AA looking for a solution, this will often reflect a failure by AA members who are also drug addicts to ensure there is a place for addicts to go that effectively treats their condition.
I have seen many addicts unable to get well in AA, because alcohol was not primary, and addiction thrives in perceived separation and difference.
I make myself available to a lot of people in OA, CA, DAA, NA, SA, Al-Anon, and S-Anon, so that those people can help create strong, successful home groups and fellowships, so that everyone can recover without having to lie to do it.
As a group member (and even as a GSR), I have one vote. I am one of the group. I was told once to 'go into the corner and count myself'.
I get to present views and explain them, but not to convince anyone I am right or persuade anyone to do anything. Others are responsible for their actions.
I belong to a group where I subscribe to the group conscience of what our primary purpose is. When I have discovered I subscribe to a different primary purpose, I have left and formed a new group. In one group, I wanted the primary purpose to be to discuss the programme of action set out in the first 164 pages of the Big Book. The majority simply wanted 'a safe place to share'. I left with love and remained friends.
People at my home group are alcoholics. They're also usually addicts or have issues in the areas of food, sex, and romance, and Al-Anonism. But it's AA, so we talk about alcoholism and refer to the other issues as an aside. We do not ban other issues from discussion but do not focus chiefly on them. In any case, the only purpose in talking about alcohol (or the other addictions) is to illustrate the principles of Step 1. There are 11 other steps plus 12 traditions and 12 concepts. Alcohol should be only a small part of the discussion. A group that is genuinely solution-focused will in any case prefer to talk about the solution. Leave the twelfth-step call and fellowship before and after the meeting to establish one-to-one identification with newcomers about drinking. Group meetings are not twelfth-step calls.
Why are the drug addicts (presuming they're not alcoholics) not going to NA, CA, DAA, HA, MA, CMA, or any of the many other fellowships? There are other fellowships that use the Big Book and also deal with drugs directly.
If those fellowships are weak, the job of AA members who also have drug histories is to help those fellowships become strong from within, not to write them off and subsume their (potential) members into AA.
If pure addicts are coming into AA looking for a solution, this will often reflect a failure by AA members who are also drug addicts to ensure there is a place for addicts to go that effectively treats their condition.
I have seen many addicts unable to get well in AA, because alcohol was not primary, and addiction thrives in perceived separation and difference.
I make myself available to a lot of people in OA, CA, DAA, NA, SA, Al-Anon, and S-Anon, so that those people can help create strong, successful home groups and fellowships, so that everyone can recover without having to lie to do it.