AA MAINLINED

Interesting lead article by "M.T." in last week's issue ["AA
Unmasked"]. However, the experience of not being able to share about
drugs in AA has not been the case for me for the past 23 years, of
which I've been clean and sober 17. I've had two major relapses--both
after I quit attending meetings and keeping in touch. Thank God I was
welcomed back with open arms after the two years I spent shooting
coke and drinking.

Jim W.
Seattle, Washington

"M.T.," the author of "AA Unmasked," clearly hasn't spent much time
at AA meetings in New York City. Having attended hundreds of meetings
at perhaps 40 locations over a 10-year period in Manhattan and
Brooklyn, I encountered antagonism to sharing about drug problems at
exactly two of them.

Virtually all AA members younger than 50 whom I have met have had
both alcohol and drug problems, and they spoke about these problems
openly at meetings. AA may not be for everybody, but it is certainly
a more inclusive program than M.T. made it sound.

T.S.
Brooklyn

It was so good to see the article "AA Unmasked" by M.T. I became
addicted to heroin when I was 15 years old. I was never able to stay
clean for more than 30 days at a time, and, yes, I have been told to
"stop sharing" about drugs at AA meetings. Fortunately, I finally
found Narcotics Anonymous--although not until after I had been
arrested, lost all of my friends, pawned all of my possessions, and
almost died from endocarditis as a result of injecting with unsterile
needles. I have been clean ever since I started going to NA.

It's tragic to see newcomer addicts ostracized in AA. We need to
remember that this is a matter of life and death, and get over our
pretensions about what chemicals we used.

G.A.
Manhattan

Editor's Note: Because "AA Unmasked" prompted an unusual amount of
reader mail, more letters will be printed in next week's issue. In
deference to the practice of AA and other 12-step fellowships, the
names of letter writers who are involved in such programs are
withheld to protect their identities.