Getting high with people in AA

[paulywould]

I had the weirdest dream last night. Now I have had plenty of drunk dreams and drug dreams before, but this one was odd. I was working in a wharehouse with my freind from AA. He had some back pain. A chick he knows came in and he got some free vicodin from her. I was like "what the hell's going on?" He said "Yeah, go ask her for some" I asked her and she charged me $5 for a 10mg. She also said she had other shit.


Now I'm not even the biggest fan of opiates. It was weird that a guy in the program was freinds with this girl and told me to go for it. I don't know, just strange. I woke up before I took them.


Paulywould

[frankiegirl]

i like this dream, i currently enjoy the best of both worlds,,however, i know its got to be one or the other

[Eirias]

In my experience, a fair amount of AA members engage in various
mind-altering substance use once in awhile, and occasionally alcohol
itself. Often due to probation or pressure they lie about their
use and maintain whatever "sobriety date" they originally
claimed. Sometimes, they remain abstinent from alcohol but they
partake of marijuana or other substances, frequently not abusing them
the way they abused alcohol or whatever their substance of choice was.

Since the language of AA more-or-less dictates that "a drug is a
drug is a drug", and that once one is an "addict" or "alcoholic" that
any substance use they engage in is merely a substitution for their
drug of choice, any admission in front of the group of such behavior is
an open enticement for them to define it as a clear-cut case of a
relapse. The ironic thing is that AA and NA are both programs
that heavily rely on the individual's active participation in following
through with the 12 steps, attending regular meetings, and doing most
of the recovery work themsleves and thus within their own
parameters. Should it not follow then that since each individual
and his/her particular situation is unique, that sobriety and recovery
are inhertenly to be defined according to specific criteria ultimately
established by the individual and the individual only? If one is
an alcohol abuser, a self-proclaimed "alcoholic", yet one is not
habituated or abusive in using marijuana and does not follow the same
behavioral patterns therein as those associated with their drug of
choice, then does that individual's use of cannabis truly constitute
"drug abuse" per se and have they in fact relapsed?

Unfortunately, to avoid loopholes and contradictions and to
discourage "denial" of actual drug abuse, and to maintain a sense of
uniformness and conformity among the group, AA and NA have somewhat
painted themselves into a corner in this respect due to the rigidity of
their "black-and white" definitions. Any member who claims
otherwise is dismissed as being in "denial" of their addictive behavior
(and subsequently bombarded with a barrage of rhyming cliche sayings
and clever truisms), and is condemned by the organization/group as not
to imply any double-standard or an atmosphere of permissiveness.

So, ultimately to save face, but also to avoid persecution, the
casual non-abusive user of a substance to which he or she is not
habituated continues to remain clandestine, having become a curious
victim of the onerous nature of the 12-step system model and its "one
size fits all" approach to recovery, while at the same time being
grateful of the program's assistance in their triumph over whatever was
their "problem drug" and the return to a more productive life, which
includes an earnest effort on his/her part to continue "working the
program" and adopting much of its values and moral perceptions.

If only there was another way for these types of programs to
understand the variation of individual situations, as well as the
inherent and natural drive for humans to alter their consciousness (see
"The Natural Mind" by Dr. Andrew Weil), and yet still be available and
applicable to so many different types of potential compulsions and
habituations.

[Eirias]

For the record I'm not "against" or "anti" AA or NA or any 12-step
program for that matter, I just wanted to point out this particular
dilemma that arises in this type of treatment. I wholeheartedly
believe that the more options that are available for recovery from drug
compulsion and habituation the better, with 12-step programs obviously
included. Clearly, different therapy modalities are best for
different cases, and if we cannot redefine the mechanisms of a
particular program, then our only option is to create viable and
successful alternatives to it.

My deepest respect goes out to any and all who have overcome
their enslavement or troubled relationship to a behavior or substance,
as the courage and strength required to succeed in overcoming such an
arduous obstacle renders it among the most difficult tasks a human
being can undertake.

[brooklyn718]

I agree, many people in AA do other substances than alcohol, ive seen it myself. Someone who says "i dont even touch aspirins" drinks 10 cups of coffee a day and smokes 2 packs of "reds" a day. So much for the anti-drug shit that comes out of his mouth!!!

[Muirner]

i could say that your having these dreams because your body is going through withdrawls from alcohol. I had these when i quit smoking bud for a while but it was usualy with just weed. i have talked to some people who have dreams about all sorts of drugs after they have quit their drug of choice... maybe it's just your mind remembering the good ol days or something


Muirner

[Eirias]

Is it just me, or doesn't seem like everytime you're having a
dream such as that-- about getting high or having sex-- that right
before you feel the effects of the drug or have an orgasm, you wake up??

I had dreams about doing heroin in jail, and I'd ALWAYS wake up,
often very dopesick and in opiate withdrawl, right before I hit myself
with the needle in my dream. Sometimes the heroin would be just
getting pushed into my bloodstream, and then I'd suddenly jolt awake--
sick, chilled, and super jonesed-out, with 150 cops and jail-guards,
dozens of feet of concrete and steel, and a 30-foot high barb-wired
fence eyeballed 24-7 by a sniper in a watchtower between me and the
nearest bit of heroin.

[hippie_lain]

I used to do drugs or have them EVERY night in my dreams. Usually a bag of coke. Worst part was i woke up usually before i dida line too. Your dreams seem a bit more disapointing though. Never touched herion, knew id be an addict.

[Muirner]

your dreams are more or less whats on your mind.. it is like your mind just sorting everything out, and if you specifically think about something all the time, or it's part of your life then sure your dreams will reflect that. expecially if your body needs it to function like with heroin... i know personally when i was watching movies about this kid doing meth and reading all this shit on his site i had dreams about it, they were crazy but i never actually did it... i find that i i'll never do something in a dream i've never done in real life.. but if i do do it in a dream it always gets cut short


Muirner

[butter]

Nough people are in AA, cause they got busted and have to do it as part of a court order. They don't really give a shit just want to get it done with. Some of them are seriously there to recover......hopefully..

[raven3davis]

I have lately been having wierd dreams about psychadelics. The
other day I had a dream that I got a sheet of acid, and before buying
it I took some to make sure it was real, and I started tripping in my
dream. I also had a dream I got some DMT and smoked it, and felt
the effects in my dream. Too bad it didn't last.