My problem with AA and NA is the religious base, but it does seem to work well. I know that people who refuse religion still have made good use of the program.
Not religion littlek - "a 'higher power' of your own understanding".
still a tough one for me.
Well, how ever it does it, it does seem to help many many people.
I went to a meeting once (no need to go into the details); it seemed to me that the main benefit for most of the people was having someone who understood what they were going through and being somehow responsible to them (as opposed to for them, which is a whole other kind of pressure which may be as likely to exacerbate a problem as alleviate it). Though most of the talk was half-embarassed/half-proud tales of past drunken exploits. (Not that I take that one meeting to be at all typical or representative.)
I went to one once too. A friend of mine from j. high school was in AA by her mid teens. I went in support. I'm not sure why she was going. I don't think it was exactly voluntary. It freaked me out.
Hmmm. Did the experience help you in any way, or was it just a freak-out? (I was in a pub with a pitcher of guinness and a fistful of darts within ten minutes of the end of the meeting, myself.)
It freaked me out because I was really young. I was only 14 or 15.
Developing a drug for drugs would be really usefull indeed!
There are plenty of drugs on the market and in the ER for treating drug overdoses.
methadone to fight heroine, nicorette for nicotine just to mention two
