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Pg. xiv - "The only requirement for membership is an HONEST desire to stop using drugs." (Traditions Three & Five.) We have lost our understanding of HONEST by the time we decide to come to AA so that requirement has been eliminated but if a person is serious about living sober, they better have an HONEST desire to stop drinking and be willing to follow our directions.

So, 75%+ who had Sponsors who followed the clear-cut directions in the Big Book were successful in sobriety.

Then, after several years of being recovered Bill published the 12&12 in 1953 and by 1965, our success rate had dropped to 50%. Unfortunately, many newcomers are encouraged to try to use the 12&12 as their source of directions. Bill W. was the principal author of the Big Book and the sole author of the 12&12. On page 17 of the 12&12, Bill stated, "The Big Book was and still is the basic text for AA.

Then, in the late 60's, people started "discussion/participation meetings" that failed to stick to AA's singleness of purpose so by 1980, AA had dropped to 33%. The result of which was they started ignoring the practice of focusing on OUR Solution and they drifted into group therapy. For recent years, the success rate of 12 step fellowships has decreased to what appears to be less than 5% for those finding as much as 5 years sobriety and clean time. (Refer to Bob Bacon's article and the information from "The Price of Don't Drink and Go To Meetings," "What Happened" plus the Dallas InterGroup stats and BOX 459 stats.)

While there has been a dramatic change in the fellowship of AA and other 12 step fellowships, the Program as it was documented in the beginning has remained unchanged; consequently, the Fourth Edition reads the same as the First Edition. Here in DAA we work the program as it was originally intended to be worked.

Page 30 - Middle paragraph - "We learned we had to ….. The 1st step in recovery." In our heart of hearts, we must know that we are the victims of a killer disease before we can begin recovery.

Return to THE DOCTOR'S OPINION, page xxvi.

We explain who Dr. Silkworth was and how he wound up at Towne's Hospital. How his "opinion" opened the door for recovery.

(Until we understand a problem, we cannot find a solution. I use an example of walking out to my car, putting the key in the ignition and the damn thing won't start; PROBLEM. I can sit on my butt and talk about the damn car not starting until hell freezes over but that will get me nowhere. I look under the hood and see that the battery cable has corroded. I know what the PROBLEM is so the SOLUTION becomes very evident. I need a new battery cable but that doesn't solve the PROBLEM. I still must take the action necessary to obtain an new cable, replace the bad one and now I'm on my way; understand the problem, know what the solution is and then take the action to make the solution a reality.)

From the 1st paragraph on page xxvi, we present the "ALLERGY" which makes us powerless over drugs.

The last paragraph on pg xxvi is where we find the initial information regarding the UNMANAGEABILITY, the addict's mind that cannot distinguish the truth from the false. We carefully dissect the whole paragraph. The UNMANAGEABILITY is clearly presented in the last sentence of that paragraph. 

The newcomer is also reminded that they need be mindful of over-the-counter meds such as cough syrup, mouth wash, flavor extracts, etc and the their health providers should know that they are drug addicts so the professionals will be mindful of what they prescribe. We emphasize that they themselves are responsible for their recovery so be honest with those who have a need to know.

We have now helped the newcomers understand the PROBLEM. We may breeze through BILL"S STORY by looking at the events that describe the progression of alcoholism in his life. Or, at this point we can describe some of our own experience in our addiction that portrays the progression, and total inability to stay stopped.

• Pg 2 - Lois is on his ass about his drinking.
• Pg 3 - Jittery in the morning
• Pg 5 - Liquor ceased to be a luxury; it became a necessity. (lying about his drinking, hiding his bottles, etc.) Lost an opportunity to make some money because he drank. Made up his mind to never touch another drop. Returned home drunk.
• Pg 7 - Met Dr. Silkworth and learned what was wrong with him.
• Pg 8 - 1st paragraph, Bill surrendered to the PROBLEM; Step One.
We use the next paragraph to exemplify the simplicity of our program; 1st sentence - a broken man. Last sentence - a wonderful life as the result of having taken the action Ebby prescribed for him.
• Pg 10 & 11 - Bill's rebellion at the idea of a spiritual solution identifying him as a hard nosed agnostic.
• Pg 12 - The freedom and responsibility we are given to develop an idea of God that we can begin to bet our life on.

We then explain the simplicity of Step Two by the fact that Bill saw his old drinking buddy, who was supposedly in the nut house for alcoholic insanity, sober. Both of them had been POWERLESS over alcohol but Ebby was sober and Bill was going to die. Ebby had found the POWER that Bill was unaware of. Ebby gave Bill HOPE, the beginning of "Coming to believe." From that HOPE, Bill finally became willing to try Ebby's plan of action.

Bill left the Hospital on December 18, 1934, at the end of 7 days, and lived 36 years without taking another drink and we are here because of the action that Bill took, not the meetings he attended.

POWERLESS because of the allergy; UNMANAGEABILITY due to the mind that cannot remember that we have the allergy. It can only remember THE SENSE OF EASE AND COMFORT WHICH COMES AT ONCE BY TAKING DRUGS. Therefore we are POWERLESS over our Body and POWERLESS over our mind where drugs are concerned. We are screwed!!!

From the HOPE of hearing a RECOVERED addict tell their story of "What they were like, what happened and what they are like now" we get the beginning of Step Two. This is precisely how Bill got his hope, from seeing that something was working for his drinking buddy Ebby. Nothing more was required of Bill to make his beginning. He decided that whatever worked for his friend just might work for him.

If lack of POWER is the PROBLEM then A POWER GREATER THAN OURSELVES must be the SOLUTION. And we see that the RECOVERED addict has found that POWER.

It takes no great mind to see that if LACK OF POWER or POWERLESSNESS is my PROBLEM then A POWER GREATER THAN MYSELF must be the SOLUTION. Once I can see that, I am faced with a very simple DECISION; "Am I or am I not willing to follow the clear-cut directions for recovery?" But I need someone who knows how to do this.

So the simplicity of Step Three is to ask the RECOVERED alcoholic, "Will you be my sponsor?" and be willing to do precisely what the sponsor tells you to do!

To determine if you have made a good choice in sponsors, it is pretty easy to tell. If they tell you to open your Big Book to page xi and STUDY to page 43, that is a good start. These 51 pages will get you ready to see if you are ready to move on. It is important that you discover your truth as to if you are a real addict or not.

Look at the 1st sentence on page 44. It tells you why it is so important to be thorough in your study to this point. From this study, we can separate the addict from the non-addicts, which is so vital to the success of your group and DAA as a whole.

(How many of you have promised you'd never use drugs again? Appears you failed to MANAGE that decision so your life is UNMANAGEABLE where drugs are concerned)

(How many of you cannot start using without getting extremely loaded? Can you honestly control the amount you take? It would appear that you too are POWERLESS over drugs.)

If that is the case, you may be suffering from an illness which ONLY a spiritual experience will conquer. (How many meetings must you attend to have a spiritual experience? Or------ How many Steps must you take to have this blessed Promise become a reality in your life?)It's obvious for most of us that no matter how many meetings we attend it never produces a spiritual experience.

Page 44 through page 57 will open the door for you to be able to consider your own conception of the God of your understanding.

Page 58 answers that stupid comment that we hear too often in meetings, "I don't know how it works." The 1st sentence tells us how it works - rarely have we seen a person fail who has carefully followed the clear-cut directions in the Big Book.

The Program of Drug Addicts Anonymous is a Spiritual Program. On page 59, we will find the 1st of several prayers; one or more for each and every Step from Step Three through Step Twelve, which reminds us that the God of our understanding is the source of our recovery. We learn to invite Him to be the Solution to all our problems.

On page 62, we are told what our REAL Problem is; selfishness-self-centeredness, but we can never see it without some method of revealing the truth to us. So we make a DECISION to do precisely what our Sponsor tells us to do and announce that decision in a prayer as presented on page 63.Notice, the real problem is NOT drugs. Drugs are more of a "solution" that stopped working for us and started killing us.

One of the beautiful things about the Big Book is that it will tell us WHEN to take a Step, HOW to take the Step, WHAT the results or PROMISES of having taken the Step will be and provides us with the PRAYERS that make certain we are inviting the God of our understanding to be very involved in our recovery.

The last sentence on page 63 tells us that we now have to get busy and take the rest of the Steps.The top of 65 tells us WHY we need to proceed at once and not waste any time.

Steps Four and Five are diagnostic Steps to learn if what they told us on page 62 is true for us. The clear-cut directions for Step Four are found on pages 64 through 71 and there are five prayers for Step Four.

On page 75, we find the clear-cut directions for Step Five and the two Fifth Step Prayers.

On page 76, we find the direction for Step Six which, is nothing more than a commitment to God that we will become students and practitioners of the rest of the Big Book and there we will find the Sixth Step Prayer.

On page 76, we find the Seventh Step Prayer, which is to be prayed after we have told God we are going to do our part, now please do Your part by making me different. This Prayer is the completion of the Prayer we prayed on page 63

On page 76, we will be most pleased to learn that if we have carefully followed the directions in working Step Four, that Step Eight is all but a done deal.

From page 76 to page 83 are the directions for taking Step Nine and the four Ninth Step Prayers are there.

Having carefully followed the path the 1st 100 laid down for us, we now have had a spiritual awakening/experience and have joined the 1st 100 as RECOVERED alcoholics and addicts. The Ninth Step Promises describe that blessed event.

On page 64, we take the 1st action to recover from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. By the time we get to page 83, we have RECOVERED. We have joined the 1st 100. We have been given the POWER that we lacked to survive drug addiction. Carefully following the clear-cut directions outlined in just 20 pages of our Basic Text produces the miracle of recovery.

We are now to start our Spiritual Growth and that occurs in Steps Ten, Eleven and Twelve.

The clear-cut directions for Step Ten are contained in the paragraph on page 84 beginning with "We continued………."

A running start for learning how to communicate with the God of your understanding is very adequately covered on pages 86, 87 and 88.

And now that we have received the POWER, it is our primary job to pass that on to the next newcomer God puts in our life. The clear-cut directions for Sponsorship are contained in Chapter Seven. But you won't find the Twelfth Step Prayer until you have reached the last page of the Basic Text; "Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick."

There you have it. It's so utterly simple yet so garbled in our meetings. I challenge you to be a part of the Solution and not a part of the Problem. The simplest guide that I follow in working with others is, "If it isn't in the Big Book, they don't need to be exposed to it." If you are encouraged to wait until you have a better understanding of what OUR Program is about, I have one question for you; "How well did you like sex before you tried it?" Well, you won't know a damn ting about recovery either until you have taken the action of taking the Steps, precisely as they were given to us.

This was an overview of the foundation meeting. Although we devote most of the time to steps 1-3 some of us do like to give a brief summary of the rest of the steps as shown above so that people know what is involved in getting recovered and maintaining that freedom in our lives.

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