Maybe someone here will find this of interest:

Extracts from Blue Moon (mfoco@hotmail.com)
Subject: "The AA member - Medications & other Drugs"
Newsgroups: alt.recovery.addiction.alcoholism
Date: 2003-06-28 20:11:14 PST

I have frequently given assurances that if I came across the
often-referred-to leaflet "The AA member - Medications & other Drugs"
then I would pick it up and read it.

I found the leaflet at a meeting this evening,

.......... it seems appropriate to reproduce (except for the anecdotal
lay-person stories). Others can then also take an informed view on
the subject of this leaflet ...

"Alcoholics Anonymous is a program for alcoholics who seek freedom
from alcohol. It is not a program against drugs. However, *some* AA
members have *misused drugs*, often as a substitute for alcohol, in
such a manner as to become a threat to the achievement and maintenance
of sobriety. These incidents have caused *all* AA members to be
concerned with what is popularly known as the "pill problem".

A report from a group of physicians in AA

Because this subject is one which goes deeply into the field of
medicine, a group of physicians who are members of AA was asked to
help prepare this pamphlet.

The experience of some AA members reveals that drug misuse can
threaten the achievement and maintenance of sobriety.

Yet some AA members must take prescribed medication in order to treat
certain serious medical problems.

Experience has shown that this problem can be minimized if the
following suggestions are carefully heeded:

1. Remember that as a recovering alcoholic your automatic response
will be to turn to chemical relief for uncomfortable feelings and to
take more than the usual, prescribed amount. Look for nonchemical
solutions for the aches and discomforts of everyday living.

2. Remember that the best safeguard against drug-related relapse is
an active participation in the AA program of recovery.

3. No AA Member Plays Doctor.

4. Be completely honest with yourself and your physician regarding
use of medication.

5. If in doubt, consult a physician with demonstrated experience in
the treatment of alcoholism.

6. Be frank about your alcoholism with any physician or dentist you
consult. Such confidence will be respected and is most helpful to the
doctor.

7. Inform the physician at once if you experience side effects from
prescribed drugs.

8. Consider consulting another doctor if a personal physician refuses
or fails to recognize the peculiar susceptibility of alcoholics to
sedatives, tranquilizers, and stimulants.

9. Give your doctor copies of this pamphlet.

In this pamphlet you will read some suggestions outlined by
physicians, as well as the shared experience of a few AA members.

From the earliest days of Alcoholics Anonymous it has been clear that
many alcoholics tended to become physically and/or psychologically
dependent on drugs other than alcohol. There has been tragic incident
after tragic incident of individuals who have struggled to achieve
sobriety only to develop just as serious a problem with a different
drug. Time and time again, AA members have described frightening and
sobriety-threatening episodes. Their experience suggests that even
though barbiturates and tranquilizers (such as Librium, Valium,
meprobamates, etc.) may be safe for most nonalcoholics when taken
according to a doctor's instructions, they can be harmful to the
alcoholic. It is often true that these substances create a dependence
as devastating as dependence on alcohol.

Even many AA's who have taken over-the-counter nonprescription drugs,
thinking them harmless, have discovered the alcoholic's tendency to
become addicted again. And those AA's who have used street drugs,
ranging from marijuana to heroin, have discovered the alcoholic's
tendency to misuse. The list goes on and will lengthen as new drugs
are developed.

The reasons for this tendency to become readdicted are varied. In
some cases the drug acts in the same way in the body as does alcohol.
This is the case with barbiturates, Valium, Librium, and other
medications that act like sedatives. An alcoholic's physical system
has already adjusted to the use of sedatives, and when they are used
without caution destructive dependence can develop. The use of
medications and drugs to relieve stress becomes an almost automatic
response for many alcoholics.

<Some AA members share their experience with drugs>....

However, some alcoholics require medication...

At the same time that we recognize this dangerous tendency to
readdiction, we also recognize that alcoholics are *not immune* to
other diseases. Some of us have had to cope with depressions that can
be suicidal; schizophrenia that sometimes requires hospitalization;
manic depression; and other mental and biological illnesses. Also
among us are epileptics, members with heart trouble, cancer,
allergies, hypertension, and many other serious physical conditions.
Because of the difficulties that many alcoholics have with drugs, some
members have taken the position that no one in AA should take any
medication. While this position has undoubtedly prevented relapses
for some, it has meant disaster for others.

AA members and many of their physicians have described situations in
which depressed patients have been told by AAs to throw away the
pills, only to have depression return with all its difficulties,
sometimes resulting in suicide. We have heard, too, from
schizophrenics, manic depressives, epileptics, and others requiring
medication that well-meaning AA friends often discourage them from
taking prescribed medication. Unfortunately, by following a layman's
advice, the sufferers find that their conditions can return with all
their previous intensity. On top of that, they feel guilty because
they are convinced that "AA is against pills".

It becomes clear that just as it is wrong to enable or support any
alcoholic to become readdicted to any drug, it's equally wrong to
deprive any alcoholic of medication which can alleviate or control
other disabling physical and/or emotional problems.

<Some AA members who have required medication share with us> ....

Summary

Experience has shown that this problem can be minimized if the
following suggestions are carefully heeded:

1. Remember that as a recovering alcoholic your automatic response
will be to turn to chemical relief for uncomfortable feelings and to
take more than the usual, prescribed amount. Look for nonchemical
solutions for the aches and discomforts of everyday living.

2. Remember that the best safeguard against drug-related relapse is
an active participation in the AA program of recovery.

3. No AA Member Plays Doctor

4. Be completely honest with yourself and your physician regarding
use of medication.

5. If in doubt, consult a physician with demonstrated experience in
the treatment of alcoholism.

6. Be frank about your alcoholism with any physician or dentist you
consult. Such confidence will be respected and is most helpful to the
doctor.

7. Inform the physician at once if you experience side effects from
prescribed drugs.

8. Consider consulting another doctor if the personal physician
refuses or fails to recognize the peculiar susceptibility of
alcoholics to sedatives, tranquilizers, and stimulants.

9. Give your doctor copies of this pamphlet".

----------------

JB

"JB" <JBCatRB@coldman.com> wrote in message
news:cng5jb$3jh$1@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Maybe someone here will find this of interest:
>
> Extracts from Blue Moon (mfoco@hotmail.com)
> Subject: "The AA member - Medications & other Drugs"
>
> 1. Remember that as a recovering alcoholic your automatic response
> will be to turn to chemical relief for uncomfortable feelings and
> to
> take more than the usual, prescribed amount. Look for nonchemical
> solutions for the aches and discomforts of everyday living.
>

That unqualified generalisation may apply to drug addicts, but
it certainly does not apply to all alcoholics

Bob

"Robert McGregor" <robert_mcgregor@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:302056F2qdpp7U1@uni-berlin.de...
>
> "JB" <JBCatRB@coldman.com> wrote in message
> news:cng5jb$3jh$1@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk...
> > Maybe someone here will find this of interest:
> >
> > Extracts from Blue Moon (mfoco@hotmail.com)
> > Subject: "The AA member - Medications & other Drugs"
> >
> > 1. Remember that as a recovering alcoholic your automatic
response
> > will be to turn to chemical relief for uncomfortable feelings and
> > to
> > take more than the usual, prescribed amount. Look for nonchemical
> > solutions for the aches and discomforts of everyday living.
> >
>
> That unqualified generalisation may apply to drug addicts, but
> it certainly does not apply to all alcoholics
>
> Bob

Dear Bob,

You've got me thinking that if the leaflet from which Blue quoted is
the latest version of that leaflet, then the idea of amending the
paragraph you've quoted ought to be raised with whoever is responsible
for keeping that leaflet in print.

ATB

JB