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A fascinating article from The Boston Globe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A fascinating article from the Boston Globe on why AA has not caught on in Russia.

I love that bit about two guys standing on the corner, holding up three fingers, looking for a third so they could get a bottle.  My kinda town.

I remember when those first American AA'ers went over; some of the old timers from my homegroup were part of that -- I was impressed at the time that they were not characterized by the zeal of missionaries. Rather, they seemed well aware of the scope of the problem, but quietly optimistic and hopeful that they might be able to help.  The lack of a "crusader" vibe on their part really struck me. These were men and women who sincerely wanted to help, but had the humility to know that they were there to offer, not to sell anything.

 

your moment of gratitude for AA for today

 

Chinese scientists have been experimenting with a dramatic treatment for addiction:  

Burning away the brain's pleasure center.  

This is the article.   

To be fair, since 2004 the procedure has only been performed for "research purposes" (and how does one wind up in that study I wonder -- and, more disturbing to consider, are there some people in such mental agony from their addiction that they volunteer?  If you're a real addict and you reflect on your journey is that so great a leap of imagination?).

Regardless, my gratitude for AA is not lessened by the fact that this procedure is currently only "research" when I consider my life today.

It is not always easy (Lord, no) but AA is a simple spiritual solution which gives me a daily reprieve from what was once a disease with virtually no hope of recovery.

Or, to put it another way:  Jails, institutions, death... or brain mutilation vs. Meetings and the 12 Steps. 

Thank God there is even a choice today.

And thank God I've been able to make it.

 

And now, the news... (a new report from the CDC)

 

 

One in six American adults is a binge drinker, consuming alcohol in excess about four times a month, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study — which defines binge drinking as five or more drinks in a short period of time for men and four or more for women — breaks down the nation’s 38 million binge drinkers by a variety of measures, including geography, age and income level. Wisconsin is the state with the most binge drinkers at 25 percent of the population, while Utah, home to the teetotaling Mormon church, comes in last at less than 11 percent.

“Binge drinking falls into a category of risky drinking,” Dr. Marc Galanter, director of the NYU School of Medicine’s Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, told The Daily. “As someone who treats people with alcohol problems, I’ve seen people start with binge drinking and carry on to more severe alcoholism.”

The CDC report noted that half of all alcohol consumed in the U.S. is consumed during binge drinking. For young people, that rate shoots up to 90 percent.

Binge drinking may be considered socially acceptable — to many, a fun night out at a bar. And many don’t see it as a sign of a serious drinking problem. Indeed, experts say less than 20 percent of binge drinkers would be medically diagnosed as alcoholics.

But health officials say binge drinking accounts for more than 40,000 deaths each year. It contributes to problems like violence and drunken-driving accidents and longer-term issues like cancer, heart disease and liver failure.

Other findings of the report:

• Binge drinking continues to be most common in men, people who have been to college, and those with incomes of $75,000 or more.

• Only about 4 percent of people 65 and older binge drink, far fewer than adults in other age groups. But they do it more often — five times a month, on average. Younger adults average closer to four episodes per month.

– With Associated Press

Justin.Silverman@thedaily.com

I thought this article, and the study it discusses, was interesting.  But I think it is important to note that the book "Alcoholics Anonymous" suggests there is a difference between a "real" alcoholic and someone who merely abuses alcohol.  Speaking for myself, I have found that to be both experientially and observationally true.

To put that idea more simply:  All alcoholics are alcohol abusers, but not all alcohol abusers are alcoholics.

celebrity sobriety and rehab -- redux

Several emails touching on the most recent round of news reports on the celebrity beat -- from jail sentences to vehicular manslaughter charges -- all of which seem to be, to varying degrees, alcohol and drug related.  I will say here what I have often said when the topic comes up over coffee:  It was hard enough for me to get sober period -- I can't imagine trying to do it under the hot and unforgiving glare of media and internet scrutiny -- what a circus of sabotage that would be.  Some might argue that "they asked for it," either by a choice of profession in the spotlight, or through foolish mistakes made in very public ways.  I guess that's true, but I've asked for a lot of stupid things in my time, and I'm grateful that I didn't get them to the degree I might have -- let alone with the world watching -- so I just don't feel comfortable judging those that have and did.

It can be a strange thing to sit in an AA meeting with someone famous in the room -- I will admit that.  It has happened to me a number of times in the course of my sober adventures.  If they are a 'regular' attendee of the meeting, they rapidly just become a part of the group -- AA is nothing if not well practiced in assimilating very different people into a cohesive and loving whole.  If they're not one of the regulars then it can make for some surreal moments, but the overwhelming majority of the time I have seen the meeting go on without too much drama -- people behave and anonymity is respected.  Breeches in this certainly happen, but in my experience far less than one might think.  Most everyone in the room understands that, for the space and time of the meeting, we are all just a group of people with the same disease trying to live in our common solution.

A few of the emails I received asked some specific questions, and I started several different responses -- none of them satisfactory to me, because the truth is, I think what I wrote here before is my best comment on it.

So, with some few additions and alterations, here is "celebrity sobriety and rehab" -- redux:

My alcoholism makes me believe that people are thinking about me... talking about me.

How much harder must it be, when reality and alcoholism blend together, and sometimes a lot of people actually are talking about you.  A very famous person sitting in an AA meeting has a somewhat different experience of anonymity and the 12 Step environment than the rest of us -- especially when there are photographers literally outside the door of the meeting, waiting to take a picture as they leave --  I've seen it first hand.

My heart goes out to the many foolish and damaged personalities who must play out their addiction and recovery before the cameras, and in the cruel kangaroo court of the internet.

I think secretly many of us believe that, should we be given some of the material success and acclaim that these public train wrecks have received (and more often than not earned, we should probably remember), we might do a bit better.

Perhaps so.  I think in my own case, if, as a young alcoholic I was surrounded by people who always told me yes, and I was made to feel extra important, and given license to spend without restraint, I would have become first a monster, then a joke, and finally a statistic.

(In fact I have often thought, sitting in meetings and hearing people share, that I am very grateful I got sober before everyone had a phone with a camera in it, and with the touch of a few buttons my pathetic, revolting blackout behavior could be uploaded for the world to see, making me an overnight global YouTube punchline.)

The press reports, with varying degrees of slant, when someone famous "goes to rehab."

Rehab is not Alcoholics Anonymous.  (Nor is it any other 12 Step Program.)

Rehab is, to varying degrees a hospital setting, where salaried individuals work to help addicts get initially clean from "what ails 'em."  I'm grateful for the rehab industry -- the book "Alcoholics Anonymous" (AA's Big Book) suggests that "we favor hospitalization for the man who is jittery and befogged."  (And please, can I someday be in a hospital with the words "Jittery and Befogged" written across my chart?)

What rehab does is medically supervise a detox, and begin to begin to help lay a foundation for some ongoing after-care -- whether that model is 12 Step based or not.  Generally most folks agree, a stay in a rehab with no follow up is not a good way to go.

I once knew a gentleman who sent his wife to rehab for 30 days.  When the Mrs. showed up at the front door on day 31 she was drunk, having started right in again on the flight home.  (Atta girl!  You are my kind of drinker.)  He called the rehab and demanded his money back.  You can imagine how that went, but I always admired his spunk.  It served him well later, when drunk she fell down the basement stairs and struck her head so hard it resulted in ... a sad ending to her story.

Rehab is not AA.

But tonight, reflecting on how many people I know who have relapsed over the years, I welcome anything -- anything -- that helps people get and stay sober.

And as for the famous and infamous, I imagine some of them are using rehab as a dodge -- the cynical assume so.  But I've seen enough people come to AA on a court card and though judgmental and insincere at the outset, discover something they identified with and that eventually actually helped them.  Hopefully for anyone "performing" their rehab for an audience at large (and I am genuinely not inferring anything about anyone), clearly somewhere along the way they got off track, and though their original motives may be mixed, perhaps they too will discover something in recovery which helps them.

For those of us already in the lifeboat, the challenge becomes not buying into the cynical interpretation of this -- but just to stay ready to offer anyone who comes to AA our open minds, hands and hearts, without judgment or agenda.

Even if you didn't much care for their last performance.

Celebrity sobriety and rehab

My alcoholism makes me believe that people are thinking about me... talking about me.

How much harder must it be, when reality and alcoholism blend together, and sometimes a lot of people actually are talking about you.  A very famous person sitting in an AA meeting has a somewhat different experience of anonymity and the 12 Step environment than the rest of us -- especially when there are literally photographers outside, waiting to take a picture as they leave --  I've seen it first hand.

My heart goes out to the many foolish and damaged personalities who must play out their addiction and recovery before the cameras, and in the cruel kangaroo court of the internet.

I think secretly many of us believe that, should we be given some of the material success and acclaim that these public train wrecks have received (and often earned, we should probably remember), we might do a bit better.

Perhaps so.  I think in my own case, if, as a young alcoholic I was surrounded by people who always told me yes, and I was made to feel extra important, and given license to spend without restraint, I would have become first a monster, then a joke, and finally a statistic.

(In fact I have often thought, sitting in meetings and hearing people share, that I am very grateful I got sober before everyone had a phone with a camera in it, and with the touch of a few buttons my pathetic, revolting blackout behavior could be uploaded for the world to see, making me an overnight global YouTube punchline.)

The press reports, with varying degrees of slant, when someone famous "goes to rehab."

Rehab is not Alcoholics Anonymous.  (Nor is it any other 12 Step Program.)

Rehab is to varying degrees a hospital setting, where salaried individuals work to help addicts get initially clean from "what ails 'em."  I'm grateful for the rehab industry -- the book "Alcoholics Anonymous" (AA's Big Book) suggests (to paraphrase lightly) that "we favor hospitalization for the man who is jittery and befogged."

(And please, can I someday be in a hospital with the words "Jittery and Befogged" written across my chart?)

What rehab does is medically supervise a detox, and begin to begin to help lay a foundation in some ongoing after-care -- whether that model is 12 Step based or not.  Generally most folks agree, a stay in a rehab with no follow up is not a good way to go.

(I once knew a gentleman who sent his wife to rehab for 30 days.  When the Mrs. showed up at the front door on day 31 she was drunk, having started right in again on the flight home.  Atta girl!  He called the rehab and demanded his money back.  You can imagine how that went, but I always admired his spunk.  It served him well later, when drunk she fell down the basement stairs and struck her head so hard it resulted in ... a sad ending to her story.)

Rehab is not AA.

But tonight, with news of three different people I know who have relapsed in the past day or so, I welcome anything -- anything -- that can help people get and stay sober.

And as for the famous and infamous, I imagine some of them are using rehab as a dodge -- the cynical assume so.  But I've seen enough people come to AA on a court card and though judgmental and insincere at the outset, discovered something that they identified with and that eventually, actually helped them.  Hopefully for anyone "performing" their rehab for an audience at large (and I am genuinely not inferring anything about anyone here), clearly somewhere along the way they got off track, and though their original motives may be mixed, perhaps they too will discover something in recovery which helps them.

For those of us already in the lifeboat, the challenge becomes not buying into the cynical interpretation of this -- but to be ready to offer anyone who comes to AA our open minds, hands and hearts, without judgment or agenda.

Even if you didn't much care for their last performance.

I guess the other six weeks of the year they're out of the country.

An article (link here) at BBC News details the statistic that adults in Scotland are drinking the equivalent of 46 bottles of vodka each in a year -- which is just shy of one bottle a week.

I guess the other six weeks of the year they're out of the country.

Vacationing.

In wine country.

(Bah-dum-bum.)

Anyone who spends some time in AA will hear personal stories that detail drinking far more than that -- a good sized bottle of vodka a day is not uncommon for the hard core drunks among us (individual mileage may vary) -- but as a national statistic a bottle of vodka a week does give one a moment's pause.

Apparently part of the issue is that there is no "minimum price" for liquor set by law, and it is possible to buy a bottle of alcohol at a supermarket cheaper than a bottle of water.

More than 20 years sober, and when I read that my mouth started salivating a little.

Swear to God.

When the book "Alcoholics Anonymous" describes us as "bodily and mentally different from our fellows" it is not kidding.

jails, institutions and death

The book "Alcoholics Anonymous" uses that phrase to describe the likely outcome for someone suffering from alcoholism who is unable to get sober.

Along the way to those ends, we usually create a lot of wreckage for ourselves and others.

I am deeply grateful that I got sober before the Internet came into existence.  Or before they started making the TV Show "Cops."  My memories (those that I retain) are painful enough without video reminder or extreme internet commentary.

This woman is not so lucky.

Her blood alcohol level when she was arrested was .708 -- and so it seems that her alcohol use has already led her to the first part of that sad pattern:  Jails.

It is not my place to suggest that she is an alcoholic, and I say that with no sly wink intended.  But this gal can drink -- I know from my own experience that you don't get there overnight.  It takes dedication -- literally.  I remember there were times before I got sober when I had the muddled thought that I was literally drinking with a vengeance -- that it felt like I could not drink fast enough and when I passed out I would start again the moment I awoke -- towards the end, anyway.

With all our sharing and reflection and self examination -- all useful, healthy and appropriate -- with all our writing of resentments and discussion of character defects, every so often I think it is important to be clear that the bottom line, the most important thing, the place it all stems from, is physical sobriety.  We must explore those things but AA is not a metaphysical society.  "Our primary purpose is to stay sober ... "

If, by the end of the day, I don't drink or use or kill myself then I win -- and the rest of the mess will either have to wait till the next day or sort its damn self out without me.

NJ Man Pleads Guilty to 15th DUI

As much as I understand what is likely operating in this man, I have no patience with any leniency for drunk drivers -- if I wrote the laws, the penalties would actually be much more harsh than they already generally are.

______________________________

NJ Man Pleads Guilty to 15th DUI

AP

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (July 1) – A New Jersey man whose driver's license has been suspended 78 times has pleaded guilty to his 15th drunken-driving offense.

Shaun Campbell of East Rutherford told a judge Tuesday that he had been drinking "quite a bit" of beer when he crashed his SUV head-on into a pickup in April. The truck's occupants, a man and his 4-year-old daughter, were not seriously hurt. The 40-year-old Campbell's blood-alcohol level was .288 percent, more than triple the state's legal limit. Authorities say Campbell's license has been suspended 78 times in 22 years. He still faces drunken-driving charges in two other New Jersey cities. Prosecutors are seeking a maximum prison term of nearly three years at Campbell's sentencing in August. He will lose his license for at least 10 more years.

______________________________

It's a reasonable guess that along the way in this man's journey through the court system he has likely been "sentenced" to attend a certain number of AA meetings and given what people in AA usually call a Court Card.

To clarify for the new kids how this generally plays out, a Court Card is a document given by a judge or D.A. as to be used as proof of attendance at an AA meeting.  In theory the person goes to the meeting and someone there (presumably someone "in charge" even though there's no such thing) signs the card indicating that the individual attended the meeting. Where I live there is no follow up on the veracity of signatures on people's Court Cards -- how can there be, really?

I confess to indulging in a little play acting when people have brought me their cards over the years.  I look at it and frown for a few seconds, as if I'm studying the card carefully (they're usually about as legible as a doctor's prescription, I have no idea what I'm looking at, generally, beyond the blank spaces for people's signatures), and say, "I'm going to print my phone number here by my name -- if they ask you about verification calls tell them they can call me."  That is a bald faced lie, of course, there is no such thing as "verification calls" -- not to mention AA keeps no membership records of any kind, plus even if I did know whether or not someone attended a meeting I would never give that information out anyway.

AA is based on attraction rather than promotion, but I trust that God, The Universe or The Great Whatever is working to get the court card kids in the door -- so even if their attendance is grudging I figure once they're in their seat we can work on the attraction part.  I know more than a few people who came in on a "nudge from the judge," identified with what they heard, and decided to stay.  So if I can head off a little forgery on someone's part and plant a seed that will help them to actually show up for the number of meetings they've been sentenced to, I'm all good with that.

AA suggests a program of rigorous honesty.
But I have no intention of changing my behavior. 

Drunkenfreude -- Susan Cheever

The always insightful Ms. Cheever wrote a piece for the NYT that both identified an interesting phenomenon and gave me a new book to ferret out ("America Anonymous" by Benoit Denizet-Lewis).

And if you scroll down and read the Comments on her essay , you'll find a wild mixed bag, much more mixed than I expected -- some of them worthwhile, some of them off the mark, some actually hostile -- and some quite illuminating, though perhaps not in the way the commenter intended.

Impressive.

This man beats my own personal best.  When I was arrested for drunk driving my blood alcohol level was .31 percent.  Of course, I'm not saying Mr. Kobierowski is an addict, but... drinks like a duck, drives drunk like a duck, I think you just might have an alcoholic duck.

Man's Blood Alcohol Stuns Cops

AP

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (July 22) - State police say they arrested a man early Tuesday whose blood alcohol level was 0.491 percent — the highest ever recorded in Rhode Island for someone who wasn't dead.

Stanley Kobierowski was taken to a hospital, put in the detoxification unit and sedated, said Maj. Steven O'Donnell. He was arraigned Tuesday on charges of driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest, and he was released after promising to appear Friday at a court hearing.

Andrew Dickerman, Providence Journal

Stanley Kobierowski is arraigned at the State Police barracks in Lincoln, R.I. Police said he had a blood alcohol level of .491 when he was arrested for drunken driving. They said that's the highest level ever seen in the state on someone who wasn't dead.

Man, am I glad I got sober before the Internet.