The hypocrisy of organized recovery

A drug is a drug is a drug .... really?

The epic failure of 12 step programs has yet to be addressed, they simply don't work, and I question if they ever really did.

They tell you, it works if you work it, but all I've ever seen in the program is misery and failure.

The Narcotics Anonymous program is the one who claim to live by, "a drug is a drug is a drug" yet they are constantly using drugs, sucking down nicotine and chugging down caffeine, two of the most addictive drugs there are.  So, who is still "using"???

The revolving door on recovery programs spins at speed that even Scotty from the USS Enterprise ever dreamt of, people change more often than the line-up at a McDonald's drive-thru!

The problem with these programs is that they are still living in the era of Bill W and haven't even tried to update to keep up with modern times.  Back in the day you'd occasionally see a billboard about booze or it might be the sponsor of a radio show, actors would drink in movies, that you had to go to the theater to see.  Today, IT'S EVERYWHERE but the programs still act like, "just ignore it" and you'll be fine.... 

Modern recovery is so fractured, it's laughable, mainly because it doesn't work.  Even those with long clean time seem completely miserable in most meetings.... "well, my wife hates me and my dog died, but I went another day without a drink, so I guess I'm happy".... holy sh*t, who wouldn't want that kind of magic in their life? It's like going to Disney World... 

No it's not, it's reliving all your old f*chups at each meeting, people acting like your dad at Thanksgiving reminding you how many times you wrecked the car.

LET IT GO!
MOVE ON!
STOP LIVING IN IT!

The programs are a failure because they are all still living in the past, living in their addiction rather than living in life.

Meetings shouldn't be about what you did back in the day, they should be about how you are creating a new life or shifting your life around without the booze/drug.   When you don't like the couch, you get rid of the couch, you don't move across the street and spend each MWF nights sitting on the porch staring at it and talking about how much the couch ruins the whole house.  You get a new couch, then if you need, repaint the walls, get a new painting.... matching throw pillows.... 

You get the toxic stuff out and bring in the stuff that makes it better.

They talk about "new people, places and things" but then tell you not to make any "major life changes" for the first year.... WTH?  Make up  your damn minds because getting rid of friends I've had for 5-10-20 years because they are still drunken pigs is a big move, making new friends I know nothing about is a big thing.... stop with all the damn contradiction.

That is the one and ONLY way the program has changed in the last 80 years, it's grown to contradict itself more and more and more...
Instead of fixing a problem, they add a new line, even if it contradicts the last line, we can't change the old line, because, "it only works if you work it"... 

Enough with the slogans.
No wonder some just leave out of boredom or frustration, the slogans, over and over and over, would be enough to drive a person to drink... again.

Throwing blankets doesn't work.

We're all different, you can't use the same "fix" with everyone.  It doesn't work in psychology and it's not going to work here.  John might need to throw away everything he has that reminds him of booze.  Steve might just have to replace the poster of Kathy Ireland in a see-thru bikini drinking a beer to a poster of Kathy Ireland in a see-thru bikini not drinking a beer.  Jill might need to rearrange her living room (where she did her drinking) but Barbara might just need to throw out one thing and replace it with a nice fern.  It's okay to be yourself, you don't need to be like someone else to be sober, there is still a YOU under the booze and it's not the same as the YOU under someone else's problems.

Stop bringing it up!
Some sponsors and people in the program are worse than a Jewish mother-in-law about bringing up the past and mistakes, LET IT GO, don't pollute the entire group with YOUR bullsh*t, that's what a therapist is for.

Don't let the "rules" keep you from helping people.

Will never forget a meeting in Florida, a new-comer was there, you know them "the reason we're here", and he was shy, so he wrote the group a letter (just one page) ... BRILLIANT, right?  NOPE, "you can't read pre-written material that isn't program approved"... this was this shy kids ONLY way of communicating and he was shut down, and while the "program experts" were arguing, the new-comer LEFT... great job "experts", way to stick to those rules, no matter the damage it does.  Luckily someone caught up to him and he came back.
If my wife was pregnant, and in trouble, I'm breaking the speed limit to get her to the hospital, I'll deal with the consequences but I'm doing what is right and needs to be done.

"You have to believe in a power greater than yourself"... WHY?  What's wrong with believing in

yourself?  "Well, your decisions got you here."  So I'm the entire problem, I'm defective, I won't ever be able to make decision for myself?  OR, should I just start believing in the person that I am without the booze/drugs?  Start believing in the person I really am or that I'm supposed to be?

Why not start believing in myself, even if nobody else will?  It's the best thing I'll EVER do for myself!

The programs still cling to the fact that Bill W and his buddies were christians and thought that was the only way out but we know better today.  The programs ties to religion are part of what holds it back, simple reality.

So, let's get to the biggest load of bullsh*t in the programs, the "serenity prayer", that meaningless babble that so many learn and regurgitate just to get by and force others to "believe" as some do.  This is the real "fake it til' ya make it" part of the program, and like the rest, it doesn't work either.

Like religion, the programs rely on outdated nonsense and a blind devotion to something that isn't there, yet wonder why so many walk out/away so often.  We don't need to get started on religion and their houses of hypocrisy here, but if the recovery community ever wants to actually start helping people, STOP with they hypocrisy and get up to the times.