AA - a solution to the problem

As the debate on the new liquor law continues, the real issue seems to be falling by the wayside. People who have a problem with alcohol, alcoholics, cannot be swayed by stricter laws, harsher penalties or spates in jail.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), the most successful programme for helping people addicted to alcohol get over their addiction, makes a distinction between someone who is just a 'heavy drinker' as opposed to an alcoholic.

An alcoholic is absolutely powerless when faced with alcohol and the new liquor laws in Botswana will do nothing to help this person. Their hope lies in understanding their addiction and getting help from organisations like AA.

According to AA, a heavy drinker can drink and get drunk but then, when they see their life is spinning out of control because of alcohol, they can make a decision to stop. On the other hand, an alcoholic has a disease. An alcoholic has an "allergy" to alcohol. Once an alcoholic takes their first drink, they are trapped. Something in their body requires them to keep drinking. Adding to this problem is a mental craving for alcohol so that even if the alcoholic can manage to stay away from alcohol for a time, they will eventually be drawn back to it and once the first drop touches their tongue, the "allergy" kicks in and they are unable to stop.

Since 1935 when Alcoholics Anonymous was established, they have managed to help these alcoholics deal with their disease. Currently, this worldwide programme operates in over 150 countries, including Botswana, where a group meets every Monday at the Roman Catholic Cathedral at 5:30 pm. AA has an estimated 2 million alcoholics around the globe as their members.

How does AA work? AA groups are usually started by a group of long-term AA members who want to help other alcoholics. The organisation is a voluntary one open to all alcoholics. It is an anonymous organisation where members' surnames are not used nor are there any sign-up sheets or roll calls. The members admit that they are alcoholics and they make a commitment to be the victor in their battle over alcohol.

AA advocates complete abstinence from alcohol. Because of the way that the disease operates, alcoholics are unable to drink any alcohol at all. This abstinence is reinforced at meetings where people stand and state for how long they have been sober; be it one day or a thousand days, it is a triumph because as one of their mottos says the fight against alcoholism is taken "one day at a time".

An important part of AA's success is for members to attend meetings. In larger cities around the world, AA meetings are held throughout the day in various public places such as churches and schools. New members are encouraged to attend 90 meetings in the first 90 days. During meeting, members discuss the paths that they have taken to overcoming alcohol. They discuss the damage that they have done to themselves and others in their lives because of alcohol and they discuss the AA programme. This fellowship between alcoholics, many believe, is one of the most important aspects of AA's success.

New members can also decide to choose a sponsor to help them with their individual programme. A sponsor is a person, usually of the same sex as the new member, who has been successfully sober for some time. The new members choose the sponsor for themselves and, if things don't go well, can dismiss him or her and choose someone else. Sponsors need to be ready to offer unlimited time to the new member. Alcoholics in AA are encouraged to speak with their sponsor everyday.

The other important part of AA is the '12 Step Programme'. This 12 Step programme has worked so successfully for alcoholics that many other organisations for other addictions, such as gambling, overeating, and sex addicts have adapted the programme for themselves. The '12 Step Programmed' is based on spirituality that some non-religious people find uncomfortable. AA assures members that they are not religious, but they are spiritual. They believe that most people, even non-religious people, believe in powers greater than themselves. As such, in the 12 Steps they discuss 'A Higher Power'. This higher power could be God, or could be the AA group, a dead relative, a principle or the universe. It is only imperative that the power is outside of the person.
The 12 Steps are:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol- that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of a higher being as we understood that.
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
5. We admitted to our higher power, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs
6. We're entirely ready to have our higher power remove all defects of our character
7. We humbly asked our higher power to remove our shortcomings
8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all
9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others
10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it
11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our higher power as we understood it, praying only for knowledge of the higher power's will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. We have had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The alcoholic slowly works through the steps, trying to be free of alcohol, but also free of any guilt or personality problems that would bring them back to drinking. AA recognises that making restitution to the people that one has wronged is a powerful thing, so asks the recovering alcoholic to make a list of the people that they have wronged because of their addiction and then to try "to make amends" to them.

This combination of having a network of other alcoholics and working the "12 Step Programme" has been successful for many. Research has been difficult to carry out because of the anonymous nature of the organisation, but people around the world speak of their success at remaining sober for 20, 30 or more years by using the AA programme. Many have spoken about how AA saved their lives since most people come to the organisation when they have reached rock bottom.

The current debate around alcohol is one based on a faulty premise. The idea that alcoholics make conscious decisions to drink is wrong. They are suffering from a sickness that gives them no choices. AA offers them a place where they can get their life back under control. In Botswana, the better way to tackle the societal problems associated with alcoholism is by establishing more chapters of AA around the country so that people outside the capital can find a place to get the help that they so desperately need.

Mmegi Online