My experience is that people that really get into AA and find it useful have translated one addiction, to alcohol, into another, AA meetings. People that go to

My experience is that people that really get into AA and find it useful have translated one addiction, to alcohol, into another, AA meetings. People that go to a meeting, or more than one, every single day, and get twitchy if they don't get their fix. I suppose that's healthier than getting blotto all the time, but it's not something most people can tolerate, and is difficult to sustain. It wouldn't be so bad if it was a program solely for people that needed that kind of overriding presence in their life, but AA is also swollen with people that are forced into it because they've fucked up and are court-mandated to attend for X weeks because they made a poor decision and got pinched for a DUI or other alcohol-related brush with the legal system. For those people, it's something they need to endure, and get to the other side of, so that they can get on with their life, and the AA model of perpetual recovery and rhetoric about "dry drunks" if they don't buy in is actively harmful.