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Need Opinions on Narcotics Meetings

chérie.la.vie

chérie.la.vie

Greenlighter
Joined
Mar 22, 2010
Messages
17
Location
Austin
My boyfriend has been dealing with heroin/opiate addition and some consequences have come with it: 1. His family has been affected by it. 2. He developed Hepatitis C and is undergoing Interferon Treatment. 3. Ontop of it all he has chronic pain and discomfort due to a leg length discrepency/skeletal malalignment of pelvis (this has actually been the urging factor of using opiates as he has seen many doctors and has not found anything that helps).

He is just recently sober from opiates and plans on continuing to be sober.

He currently lives at home and has been attending a university through all of this. He is planning on taking the next semester off from school in order to get his shit together and deal with the side effects that the Interferon Treatment brings. Living at home for him is a HUGE stress because his parents criticize his every move and assume that he is always high (which in reality, he is not).

The plan is that his parents will pay for an apartment for him as long as he meets certain criteria: 1. Attend a Narcotics Anonymous meeting weekly 2. Pass a drug test weekly 3. Get a job. Sounds like a good trade, yes? Except he does not want to attend the NA meetings because he does not believe in the 12 Step Program (hence its low success rate, and does not aggree with the ideals).

My question is:
Are there any other kinds of meetings for narcotic abusers that DON'T use the 12 Step Program?? Would appreciate comments/experiences/opinions.
Thank you.
 
kinda depends on where you live. There ARE organizations that are about recovery without AA/NA's framework, but honestly, they always seemed to me to be emphatically emphasizing how they were different so much that nobody ever talked about much else.

Rational Recovery, for example, uses some foundational ideas that I agree with-- that drinking and using are voluntary behaviors and not a disease, and that one can be sober without the intervention of a higher power, but I could never ever ever have kicked my habit by just reading their literature and trying to put it into practice. Going to meetings-- actually socializing with people who were trying to do the same thing as me-- was the most important part. 12 steps meetings are absolutely going to be the biggest game in town, so visiting lots of different meetings in the area is going to give you many many different viewpoints, and allow you to make an educated choice about what it going to keep you from using and what is going to make your life fulfilling. That's not something that any other program is going to be able to offer, and, unfortunately, I don't think its something you're going to be able to do by attending once a week until the obligation no longer exists.

I have made life-long friends in NA, and even though i now use drugs occasionally and in moderation, I cherish the couple of years I spent there, getting recovered, and helping others do the same. If I could talk to your bf, I'd tell him to go to a few anyway, and find somebody he respects and admires who goes, and to then reevaluate his positions.

I don't know anything about SOS, but they have some austin meetings, where, I presume yall live.
http://sosaustin.tripod.com/
 
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I think he needs to try and get his pain under control as that might be an obstacle to his recovery. If nothing apart from opiates seems to help, can he consider using a cannabinoid-based treatment, like herbal cannabis? If you say his pain led to him taking opiates which then led to addiction, then perhaps dealing with that underlying pain might help him avoid relapsing?

If he does choose to use cannabis, using the right strain is important. I would recommend starting with KillerSkunk or Blueberry in his case. Using cannabis to treat his pain won't necessarily result in trading one addiction for another and counterintuitively might actually prevent a relapse.
 
Well, looks like his parents are set on sending him to a Rehab. Heard of any good ones in Texas? ..That have a similar outlook on addition such as Rational Recovery/Smart Recovery (non-12 step) ?
 
Out-patient rehab can be a good resource. By me there are counceling centers, that have a focus on drug addiction, and also some other areas.

The one I went to was not 12-step oriented. Instead, there were different phases. The first was more educational, and the last was focused on relapse prevention. I also saw a councelor for 1 on 1 sessions a couple times a month.
 
I'm not sure why people have that belief in the first place. If you go to NA meetings for long enough eventually you realize at least half the people (or more) aren't even working the steps.
There is no part of NA that says "if you don't work steps we'll kick you out".

NA caters to a lot of people imo. I've even seen people to to NA meetings to share that they don't want to work the steps. People accept it, its not a huge deal.

I find it useful for a few reasons:

1) Establishing social ties with likeminded people who want to get clean.
2) Its a HUGE stress reliever. God even the meetings I didn't share 90% of the time when I'd leave I was on cloud nine.
3) Its an inlet to reality and motivation. There was a lot of days I'd wake up not wanting to do anything or was very apathetic. I'd drag myself into a meeting then find myself at the gym an hour later, or looking for work, or just being productive all around. Thats one thing in particular I like is the motivation.
4) Its versatile. Go there and share, don't share, meet people or don't, share your happy or share your sad. Its just generally accepting of a lot of people. Therapy isn't like this. Even when you're in the mood for it it can feel like a job.
5) All he really needs to do is just avoid 12 step NA meetings, not NA all together. There are hundreds of NA meetings not centered on the 12 steps. People will still sometimes share about them, but most of the time they tend to ramble about other things.

And most importantly, has he ever gone to one before? Its almost not wanting to go to the gym because you think its a requirement to already look fit. You can go there to workout and spend your life dieting like an animal, or you can just go there 20mins to run. I'm just a person who also doesn't believe in the 12 steps, but I went to NA for 5 years and benefited from it A LOT, w/out ever even working step 1. And am I right that you said the criteria is just 1 meeting a week? He should feel lucky thats all his parents are asking for. Is there anyway he could open his mind about the idea a bit more?
I mean seriously a lot of people go and don't care for the steps, its not a big deal and I sat in therapy for years while getting high, although ironically have never gone to a meeting high in my life. Not saying its more effective than therapy, but for some people it definitely is, regardless of the 12 steps.
 
There are alternatives.

Also, the 12 step model is extremely flexible. You have to create your own recovery. All it takes is an open mind and a true desire to stop using.

Just like Bojangles I got high in therapy for years. Therapy alone is not enough for this addict alcoholic. Medication+small group therapy+12 step meetings seem to be though.

I do whatever it takes to stay clean. If something is going to help me to stay clean and sober then I am going to do it.
 
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