Happy Memorial day weekend to all my Tribe family and friends, you know i have been taking sometime reading other people's pages  to see other's views of how they approach Addiction. one page i read really intrigued me. i won't mention any name because that is their business but what i read did disturb me a little bit. they said that they did not believe the saying "that once an addict always an addict". they also said they did not believe in the 12 step way of life as the answer to their addiction problems. now don't get me wrong every one works and lives a different program. each and everyone of us has our own defintion of "God".

It has been said to me "that the lie is dead, we do recover". this is one of the things i heard at the  NA 20th World Convention in Portland, Or back in 1990. it was said by one of the original writers of the BAsic Text of NA. his name was Bob B. a lot of people who don't know that AA was founded in 1934 by Dr. Bob and Bill W. NA was founded in 1953 by Jimmy K. with the direction of our father program AA. addicts such as myself got tired of going to AA meetings and getting shut up because we needed to talk about our addiction to drugs and not just alcohol.

now i don't know about you all but i am a true believer that God brought me to NA and NA brought me to God. i cannot have one with out the other. I have seen people start in the 12 step program of their choice and then find God and turned their recovery over to organized religion. yes it has worked for some but i have seen so many people give up the 12 step way of life to organized religion and have gone back out within 6 months of not going to meetings anymore. sure meetings are not for everybody. for those of you who don't attend them anymore and have been successful congratulations. for me, my addict is doing one armed pushups behind my back 24/7. i am just as close to my next drug as i am to the last one i took on july 11th, 1989.

I truly have a very hard time with those of you who bad mouth the recovery program and the 12 step program of your choice. i see newcomers at meetings today who truly are struggling with us old dinosaurs who really don't know everything but we have learned quite a lot that has gotten us to where we are today. please don't think that i am not a God fearing christian today because i am. i went from being a rock and roll guitar player to playing in church and being on the praise or worship team as leader for over 19 years. but that is a part of my spiritual life that is also the higher power i choose to call God today.

just because you have maybe had a bad experience with someone in a meeting don't judge the rest of us by one persons actions or story. we are here today trying not only to save your ass but to continue to save our own at the same time. if you continue to have a negative reaction to what you hear in meetings try listening to the message and not the jackass carrying it. trust me when i say when we say "as long as you follow the guidelines of the NA program, you never have to use again". the key word is "never". it does not say can't. become part of the solution and not the problem. 2 negatives do not equal a positive. if your being negative and bring a negative message to the meeting then you are not being a productive member of the 12 step program you are a part of.

i hope you read this message with an open mind and are getting the message i am trying to get across. it's sad that we cannot save every addict we come into contact with but God knows we try. it has been said that 2 out of every 100 people who try the NA or AA way actually stay in the meetings. that's a truly low average but it's also a proven fact. as hard as us oldtimers try not everybody gets it. i hope for those of you who are struggling in your daily lives with the process and progression of recovery stick around long enough for us to F#@k up your using.  stay clean and be good to yourselves.

NA hugs and love,

JJ