Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire, England celbrates 40 years of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Bill Wilson chanting - Aug 2012

JR Harris's picture
Submitted by JR Harris on Sat, 08/04/2012 - 13:37

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The Scunthorpe branch of Alcoholics Anonymous(AA) in North Lincolnshire has been operating for 40 years and credits itself with saving many people from the problems of alcoholism. In the UK, people are not mandated by the courts of law to the supposedly spiritual cult of Alcoholics Anonymous, but that is changing and magistrates are starting to mandate AA as part of the sentences in many sectors. With the mandates that Iain Duncan Smith are proposing on people on public assistance in the UK, many people will be forced to attend the overly religious and blasphemous Alcoholics Anonymous or face reduced benefits.

The Story of Scunthorpe AA in North Lincolnshire, England: http://www.thisisscunthorpe.co.uk/Scunthorpe-branch-Alcoholics-Anonymous...

Tuesday
SCUNTHORPE 7.30pm
Mind Centre, Printers Yard (adj. bus station) Fenton
St, Scunthorpe. DN15 6QX.
W.A. Open meeting on request.

Friday
SCUNTHORPE 7.30pm
Mind Centre, Printers Yard (adj. bus station) Fenton
St, Scunthorpe. DN15 6QX
W.A. Open meeting on request.

Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in North Lincolnshire England who are caught by the new mandates of Iain Duncan Smith can be downloaded at: http://www.aa-gb.org.uk/midlands/lincolnshire/meetings/WTF.pdf

Iain Duncan Smith's plan for 'suspected' alcoholics won't work

The proposal to dock benefits from alcoholics who decline help is impractical and misunderstands the nature of addiction

By John Sutherland
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 May 2012 08.30 BST

{snip} ......

Iain Duncan Smith's proposal is that recipients on benefits "suspected" of being alcoholics/problem drinkers should have their payouts docked if they decline "help". That help seems to be attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings.

"Suspected" – if this scheme ever comes into operation – will be a major problem. Suspected by whom? Doctors are bound by confidentiality. They can't snitch. Few, even the most serious drinkers, turn up at the benefits office sozzled. "Secret drinking" is one of the things you get rather good at. Spouses? Children? Neighbours?

The other objection is the co-opting of AA into Duncan Smith's scheme. It's common in America, and the results – in my view – are not reassuring. Judges over there routinely order defendants found guilty of driving under the influence to a long course of AA/NA (Narcotics Anonymous) attendance.

They bring their cards to meetings, which must be signed by whoever is chairing. The cards are dunked in the collecting basket, with the dollars that pay for the coffee, cookies and rent of the church hall, or wherever.

It's wrong in two ways. It violates the anonymity principle, which is fundamental in AA. You're named and shamed. Secondly it's wholly involuntary. They are pressed men and women. In my experience, at AA meetings, those there for driving under the influence are simply serving their time. The help that the fellowship can and does offer rolls off their back. Some are yawningly contemptuous of all the quasi-religious mumbo jumbo. Screw higher powers. They just want to get through the damn thing and back at the wheel. And, in too many cases, the bottle.

The larger objection is that, as a curative measure, what Duncan Smith proposes comes too late in the long alcoholic cycle (20 years for most addicts). The kind of people he has in mind (few, one suspects, will be Eton/Oxbridge educated) have an array of problems. Adding one more – acute poverty – will not make them "pull themselves together". It is more likely to be straws and camel backs.....

Read the entire story at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/24/iain-duncan-smith-al...

JR Harris's picture

JR Harris

Sat, 08/04/2012 - 14:03

We must stop booze blighting so many lives

Thursday, August 02, 2012

Most of us like a drink at one point or another.

But new figures revealed today in the Telegraph show what damage booze is doing to many lives in North Lincolnshire.

Many people with busy, stressful lives enjoy a glass of wine after work or a couple of drinks to relax on a Friday night.

But for some it can be the slippery slope from this into binge drinking that leads to problems.

New health data reveals that hospital admissions have surged in our area in the last two years for which figures are available.

Irresponsible drinking clearly accounts for much of this figure.

But, although the analysis is hard to make definite verdicts on, the recession that continues to affect the region may be playing a part in this problem.

Action is now being taken by the authorities to try to stop things getting worse.

This is obviously welcome.

But the account from Alcoholics Anonymous members in Scunthorpe highlighted today shows that alcohol-related problems are difficult to eradicate.

Part of the issue is cultural – with binge drinking and alcohol dependency far worse here than in many European countries.

But more needs to be done both by the drinks industry and consumers to drink responsibly and stop booze blighting so many lives.

Source: http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/stop-booze-blighting-lives/stor...

"Tradition 10 - Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy." Please follow orders from the Interchurch Center if you are an AA member and don't comment.