Marijuana Anonymous - Life with Hope: A Return to Living Through the 12 Steps and the 12 Traditions of Marijuana Anonymous

1995, 2001, 2017 by Marijuana Anonymous World Services

All rights reserved.

First edition published 1995

Second edition published 2001

Third edition published 2017

Marijuana Anonymous World Services

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No part of this publication, either print or electronic, may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the express written permission of Marijuana Anonymous World Services. Failure to comply with these terms may expose you to legal action and damages for copyright infringement.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 978-0-9765779-3-5

ISBN: 978-0-5786671-8-8 (eBook)

This publication is not intended as a substitute for the advice of health care professionals.

In the process of being reissued in 2020, Life with Hope has undergone minor editing updates.

The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous have been reprinted and adapted with the permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (A.A.W.S.). Permission to reprint and adapt the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions does not mean that Alcoholics Anonymous is affiliated with this program. A.A. is a program of recovery from alcoholism onlyuse of A.A.s Steps and Traditions or an adapted version in connection with programs and activities which are patterned after A.A., but which address other problems, or use in any other non-A.A. context, does not imply otherwise.

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H OW CAN WE TELL YOU HOW TO RECOVER? We cannot. All we can do is share with you our own experiences and recovery through the Twelve Steps of Marijuana Anonymous.

The Twelve Traditions are the guidelines for the fellowship of Marijuana Anonymous and the basic ideas which unify our groups.

Keeping in mind that our program is a living, growing thing, this is the first edition of

Life with Hope

A Return to Living Through

the 12 Steps and the 12 Traditions

of Marijuana Anonymous

The Literature Committee of Marijuana Anonymous World Service Conference

May 29, 1995

Our sincere thanks toallthe Twelve Step programs that came before us, and especially to Bill W. and Dr. Bob, who started it all.

I N JUNE OF 1989 , delegates from Marijuana Smokers Anonymous (Orange County, California), Marijuana Addicts Anonymous (the San Francisco Bay Area), and Marijuana Anonymous (Los Angeles County) met to establish a unified Twelve Step recovery program for marijuana addicts. A smaller Marijuana Anonymous group in Seattle had been unable to send delegates because of the cost, and another small Marijuana Addicts Anonymous group, in New York, was heard from later. That first conference was held in a crowded motel room halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, in Morro Bay.

Until unification at the first conference, Marijuana Anonymous, Marijuana Smokers Anonymous, and Marijuana Addicts Anonymous were three distinct organizations. They had only recently begun hearing about the existence of each other, although the oldest fellowship was three years old. Each group was apprehensive, worried that the others would not see things as they did. Were they all Twelve Step programs? Did they all work the same kind of program? Did they follow the Twelve Traditions? Even the body language of the delegates at that first small conference revealed these conflicts and concerns.

It was a highly emotional, exhausting, and gratifying weekend. The eleven representatives had each arrived with their own fellowships particular agenda, yet they somehow managed to come away with satisfactory working compromises. As a result of this hard work, one groupMarijuana Anonymous (MA)was born. The stage was set for the next conference, to be held in October.

The second Marijuana Anonymous Unity Conference was held that fall with delegates from Seattle joining the others. Two years later, the New York chapter was finally able to send a delegate. Shortly after the unification of the US programs, MA was contacted by another Marijuana Anonymous organization in New Zealand. All of a sudden, MA was happening and it was happening worldwide.

All of these small groups had started one at a time, almost simultaneously, not even knowing of any other groups existence. But they had all started for one reason: their members did not feel comfortable in any other Twelve Step groups or self-help programs. In the areas where these meetings started, recovering marijuana addicts either felt unwelcome or disrespected in other programs. And, occasionally, some members of other groups were still using marijuana. That was no help at all.

For years, marijuana was thought to be non-addicting. If people got addicted, it was either all in their imagination or because there was something really wrong with them. Perception of the drug had swung from the hysterical Reefer Madness mentality of the 1930s to the belief that it was totally innocuous. For many of us, the truth lies somewhere in between. As is the case with addiction to many other substances, marijuana addiction can be a slow process. Some users never cross from using to abusing to addiction. For those who did become addicts, there was very little help, let alone understanding. And so, because it was needed and its time had come, Marijuana Anonymous began springing up here and there, almost like the plant itself.

In Orange County, one marijuana addict sat alone for weeks, waiting for another pothead to join him at a facility where other Twelve Step meetings were taking place. Eventually one did, then two, and then a roomful. And soon, the room was too small. In Oakland, one pothead stood up in another Twelve Step meeting and asked if there was anyone else in the room who had been smoking his brains out. There was. Meetings started in the addicts living rooms. And soon, their living rooms were too small. In Los Angeles, a marijuana addict went to a psychologist who sent her to Twelve Step meetings, where she couldnt relate. So, with his help, she and a couple of other patients with marijuana problems started a meeting in his office. And soon, the office was too small.

At the first Unity Conferences, each group had its own ideas about what was best for all. Some favored a singleness of purpose concept; some questioned religious and gender distinctions within the Steps and other literature. In the end, MA chose to adopt and adapt the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, because they have worked for so long and for so many. Like the other Twelve Step programs, Marijuana Anonymous is a program of recoveryrecovery from bondage to a substance.

The compromises reached at those first conferences included a singleness of purpose (see chapter 15, Tradition Three) within the Steps and Traditions, but a requirement of full sobriety for world service commitments. The group also adapted the Steps and Traditions, changing the name of the substance and attempting to remove gender references when referring to God. Because this is a spiritual, not a religious, program, members tried to avoid defining what the word