One Little Pill

What if there were a pill that could cure alcoholism?

Wouldn't you want to know about it?

Why are alcoholics still being denied the choice of a simple,
effective method and drug that were FDA approved in 1994? 

The Sinclair Method (TSM) uses the nervous system’s own 

mechanism, called “extinction”, for gradually removing the 

interest in alcohol and the behaviors involved in alcohol drinking.

The technical term for TSM is “pharmacological extinction.”

The Sinclair Method was confirmed, first in a large body of 

laboratory studies, then in over 90 clinical trials around the world, 

and most recently in personal reports by people using it. 

TSM  has been found to be successful in about 80% of alcoholics.  

This is very high for alcoholism treatment, but the treatment is not for everyone:
some people apparently have a different form of alcoholism that does not involve
the opioid system and cannot be treated effectively with opioid antagonists.

Claudia Christian, narrator of One Little Pill, also started the C 3 Foundation 

in order to help save the lives of alcoholics worldwide. 

The foundation's aim is to educate doctors, alcoholics, family and friends of 

alcohol-dependent people about the most successful long term treatment: 

The Sinclair Method.

The C Three Foundation seeks to elevate the public discourse surrounding 

responsible alcohol use and effective, lasting treatment for misuse and addiction.

The foundation is determined to identify and seek to change policies, 

practices, laws and social norms in popular culture that prevent 

successful alcohol addiction recovery.

Claudia informally describes the nature of her memoir, Babylon Confidential, 

especially her discovery of TSM after trying nearly everything she could find.

Babylon Confidential is available for sale on Amazon.

I would love to hear from anyone who has tried the Sinclair Method.
I'd love to hear your story, whether or not TSM was successful for you.

Would you like to ask your physician for Naltrexone?

If you want to ask for a prescription of  Naltrexone, the Alcoholism Guide
provides a letter in pdf form, available here, that you can download, print, 

and give to your physician.

Good luck, and I wish you success in whichever treatment method you choose.

It's extremely  important that alcoholics be given the opportunity to choose.
Choice of treatment should not be limited to "Which AA meeting should I attend?"

TSM might actually be effective for most alcoholics.

Please, let your voice be heard.

Help break AA's stranglehold on the business of recovery!

No jokes, folks.

This is the real deal.

Bamboozle!

befog 

beguile 

bewilder 

bewitch

con

connive

 confound

cozen

dazzle

deceive

defraud

delude

dumbfound

dupe

fake out

flimflam

fool

gaff

gammon

gull

gyp

have

have on

hoax

hoodwink

hornswoggle

humbug

hypnotize

mesmerize 

misguide

misinform

mislead

mystify

perplex

puzzle

razzle-dazzle

rook

rope in

sell

snooker

snow

spoof

string along

sucker

suck in

swindle

take 

trick

Don't be bamboozled by Bill W!

Don't be duped into joining AA.

The AntiAA defined

This video by "Commonsense" explains the Anti-AA.

What is the AntiAA, and why are we Anti AA?

The answer to this question varies from person to person.

Most of us, maybe all of us, are former members of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Many of us were fully indoctrinated, true believers in the cult of AA.

We tried our best to have faith, and tried to do as we were told, 

but somewhere along the line our powers of reason took over.

We woke up, and we opened our eyes.

Some of us went online in our search for answers.

We wanted to know why our AA experience was so very different 

from that of all the members we knew who continued to love AA.

When we asked questions online, we were immediately attacked.

We were vilified, accused of "bashing" Alcoholics Anonymous.

Current AA members told us that we would drink, and die.

They told us that our questioning of AA was killing drunks.

We were told that we were angry and bitter, failed alcoholics, 

that we were dishonest, still drinking, and hadn't worked the steps.

We were shocked by this reaction.

We still half believed in the Promises made to us by the Big Book and our sponsors.

We still half believed that working the steps could make us happy, joyous, and free.

Slowly, through the reactions of current AA members, we began to see the light.

We came to realize that we had been brainwashed in AA.

We began to suspect that we would not automatically drink and die, 

just because we had decided to leave Alcoholics Anonymous behind us.

We began to realize that the behaviors and attitudes of AA members that had

made us uncomfortable in "the rooms" were not mere figments of our imaginations.

We began to see just how much pressure we had been under to conform,

to shut up and go along with the group, to keep our doubts to ourselves.

We realized just how forcefully we had been taught to pretend.

"Fake it til you make it" is the AA way.

We were too honest to fake it.

Intellect and reason are the enemies of Alcoholics Anonymous.

"You cannot be too stupid for this simple program, but you can be too smart".

You'll often hear this cliche among members of the AA fellowship.

We were too smart for AA.

The AntiAA is not an organization.

We have no leader, no headquarters, and we don't pass the basket. 

We don't hold meetings, or know each others' names.

We don't know how many of us there are.

Most of us have never met. 

We make videos, and blogs, and we speak our truths.

For doing this we are under attack by current AA members.

Our websites are aggressively trolled, hacked, and shut down.

But we don't stop. 

More and more of us show up online, every day.

We all have different motives for standing up against the institution of AA.

Some want to warn alcoholics who might be harmed by exploitation by AA members.

Some of us want to stop the US courts from violating our constitutional rights 

when the judge orders offenders to attend AA meetings.

We want others to know that we did not die when we quit AA.

We want others to know that we did not return to drinking.

We try to tell others about alternatives to AA.

There are many alternatives to Alcoholics Anonymous.

If we continue to spread the word, more and better methods 

of recovery from alcoholism and addiction will be developed and used.

It's already happening!

Let's keep this ball rolling!

You can find another treatment.

You don't have to join AA.

Vive la révolution!

All in good fun!

 

Too Young for AA

Lest anyone imagine that you have to be a Real alcoholic, a Low-Bottom alcoholic, or even an Adult alcoholic to be targeted for membership by the service organization of a fellowship that includes sex offenders and other court-mandated criminals among its ranks, I'd like to call your attention to the illustrated cartoon pamphlets produced by the AA General Service Organization and intended to introduce drunken children to the wonders of Alcoholics Anonymous.

So here in the good old US of AA, we have an organization loosely in charge of an unsupervised fellowship, widely believed to be the last word in treatment for the fatal malady of drinking too much, that has offered itself up to and been used by the court system as a dumping ground for those who would otherwise need to be sheltered and fed in a penal setting. This organization is intent on letting the world know that AA isn't just for adults, and that anyone who thinks they might have a "drinking problem", including children of all ages, is welcome to join in the fun.

Chronic drunks, one time DUI offenders, spouse abusers, sexual predators, and child molesters
are all sent to AA meetings by the courts, and the fellowship welcomes them with open arms.
Is it really such a good idea to add troubled teens, and even pre-teens, to the mix?

"Dear AA; I am drunk right now and I'm thirteen..."

I can't neglect to mention the widespread tradition of 13 stepping , or the sexual exploitation of AA newcomers. This welcoming behavior is practiced by many experienced AA members, and is covered in detail by Monica Davidson in her recently released documentary film The 13th Step.

frame from my short video Slipping Down in AA

Because of the systematic exploitation of newcomers by more experienced AA members, various people have approached the GSO with requests that AA take responsibility and warn newcomers
of the possibility of molestation and abuse. These concerned members and ex members have offered suggestions for how this could easily be done, for instance, via the same kind of printed pamphlets currently used to attract young people to AA. So far, all requests have been ignored or dismissed as an "outside issue", and current AA members insist that it should be left up to the individual groups
to protect newcomers from exploitation.

Please explain to me how predation at meetings is an "outside issue".

The GSO's attitude towards exploitation mirrors AA's attitude towards court mandates: "We can't
be held accountable, we aren't responsible". I went into this is more detail in my 12 Stepping the Judge and Promotion not Attraction blog posts.

The Big Book and the original AA literature insist that AA is intended only for the willing, but the pamphlets and later printed material contradict this basic tenet of AA. The GSO claims that many unwilling newcomers eventually saw the light and went on to live sober, productive lives.
AA wants to be available to all who might benefit from the program, regardless of how angry, hateful,
fearful, unwilling, or criminal they might be.

No AA pamphlet or literature intended for the general public makes any mention of the disturbing incidence of sexual predation by group members. The pamphlets for teenagers are written in such
a way as to make AA seem much safer than it actually is. Yes, there are "Young People's" groups,
but I have yet to hear of one that doesn't invite older members to attend as well.

Women make up about a third of the fellowship, and I'm sure that's very reassuring for anyone considering allowing their teen to join AA. Most of the sexual predation, from what I've seen and heard, is committed by male members and court ordered hangers-on, but females can certainly
be equally predatory. One of the more scandalous incidences of molestation recently in the news involved an adult female AA member and the underage friends of her teenage daughter.

The abuses go on, as more and more formerly naive, exploited AA members and their friends will attest. Sexual predation, using newcomers as a source of cash, rides, free labor; a place to stay,
all of these types of exploitation are extremely common in AA. There is no outside agency to turn to when a member has been victimized, as there would be in the case of a mental health clinic or other supervised support group.

You might encounter doctors, lawyers, artists and students at any particular AA meeting, but you might also encounter court-ordered habitual drunk drivers, spouse beaters, child molesters, and other violent criminals sent to AA by the judge. AA does not reveal this fact in any of their introductory pamphlets, or anywhere in any of the literature that I have read to date.

Most people at an AA meeting reveal only their first names, making it difficult, in the event of an incident, to determine exactly who is a group member, or who was present at any particular meeting. In language taken directly from AA's Too Young pamphlet, no one even needs to know you're here, including, presumably, the adult responsible for your welfare.

Fair enough, I guess, if an AA meeting were a safe haven for minors. But AA isn't safe, not for kids.
Anyone with a drinking problem is welcome, regardless of how criminal or dangerous they might be.

Members of  local AA groups have no real power to stop exploitation, and don't like to hear about it.
There are no standard rules for behavior, no procedures in place for dealing with abuse, and there is no one in charge at the local level.

Many current members deny that 13 stepping and other abuses happen in their own groups. Experienced AA members often advise the newcomer to "find their own part in it" if they are abused, and even discourage placing the blame on the predator.

These attitudes often apply to any problem with another AA member.

The most important thing, the first of the 12 traditions, is to protect AA at all costs.
Printing a pamphlet to warn newcomers of possible dangers might diminish public support of AA.
Admitting that abuses occur could be damaging to the group and to AA as a whole. Better to sweep any embarrassing facts under the rug and pretend everything is hunky dory. "Local groups can be relied upon to take care of any problems." I have heard this from current AA members too many times to count.

Yet many newcomers are nevertheless routinely targeted for exploitation by predatory AA members.
Obviously, leaving protection of newcomers in the hands of the local groups is not working very well.

from The 12 Traditions Illustrated

Other non-profit organizations have been held accountable for exploitation within their ranks, but for some reason AA doesn't think it should have to adhere to the same standards as other organizations. Alcoholics Anonymous has been getting away with it for 80 years now, and is unlikely to change in the near future.

When enough law suits have been filed against the AA organization and AA affiliated businesses, those in charge will undoubtedly see the light. But who knows how long it will take, or how many young people will be abused by older members in the meantime?

You have to hand it to the GSO, though. AA really knows how to pack 'em in!

These pictures are from the pamphlets, Too Young, What Happened to Joe, and The 12 Traditions Illustrated, unless labeled otherwise. 

The cartoon pamphlets are available for download on the GSO website.

I've taken a few snippets and used them here for educational purposes under the provision for fair use included in the Copyright Act.

Slipping Down in AA

My personal story of drinking, degradation, and AA.