“District 18 (Greater Sacramento Area Marijuana Anonymous); est’d 2011”

My homegroup is an MA fellowship--Marijuana Anonymous. I go to the other fellowships, to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, but pot was my main drug, my drug of choice. I feel most comfortable there, like it’s in those rooms that I truly feel I’m around ‘my people’. Even in sobriety, stoners are still stoners and there’s a certain bent to those meetings. It’s definitely not a glum lot.

We talk often about how pot is viewed by others in Recovery. Just recently I listened to someone share in a meeting about how a huge chunk of her support group has relapsed, but don’t think they did since it was ‘only weed’. My sponsor tells a story about going to an AA meeting and hearing one of the old-timers ask the group whether or not they thought he should reset his sobriety date after smoking a joint. I have a sponsee with whom I’ve had frequent conversations about people he knows in the program who think it’s okay for them to smoke pot because they’re “just an alcoholic”. I remember all too well the days of tearing my hair out at people who smoked pot everyday, multiple times a day, and yet thought they were sober because they didn’t do crank or heroin anymore.

Marijuana is a drug, just like alcohol is a drug, just like speed, cocaine, and opium are drugs. If you’re honest with yourself about having the disease, then you know that ANY substance is no good. Some people can use marijuana occasionally, just as some people can have a drink and not be an alcoholic. I am not one of those. And I’m a firm believer that anyone who is serious about their Recovery needs to stay away from any and all mind-altering chemicals. If I were to say that it’s okay for me to drink--thinking that alcohol wasn’t my problem, pot was--then that means it’s okay for me to shoot heroin. Or take peyote. Or go shrooming on the weekends. No. Sober means sober. But I digress.

Time and time again, newcomers have come in the door, grateful that we exist. They aren’t welcomed in AA meetings and get yelled at and talked down to because “we talk about ALCOHOL here.” They get laughed out of NA meetings, told to get a life and that they don’t really have a problem and “it’s just pot; don’t be such a loser. Shit, just put it down.” I’ve got news for you folks: that’s what it means to be addicted: you can’t just put it down. People have come to you for help, and you laugh at them???

The Marijuana Anonymous program does exist. It’s a smaller fellowship, a younger fellowship. And that’s okay. Personally, I enjoy that our meetings are smaller. It means that people don’t get as lost in the shuffle. Newcomers don’t get to hide in the back; they’re right there in the middle of the circle. My local area only has about half a dozen meetings a week, but they’re well-attended. We have a book study meeting. We have a speaker meeting. We even have a newcomer meeting.

We have a body of members, elected by the individual meetings, that function as an area service committee. We plan intergroup events, have centralized our donations so that we can make regular contributions to the world organization, MAWS. One of my current service commitments is as the chair of that body.

This weekend is the yearly Marijuana Anonymous World Services business conference. My local area was on the agenda. We’ve been growing steadily, making our donations to MAWS, and asked to become an official area. When the time came, the report on our area was read and the delegates present at the conference were overjoyed to hear that Marijuana Anonymous is thriving in the Sacramento area. Our petition to become an official District was approved unanimously.

My sponsor would give me a talking to if I didn’t take some credit. But I don’t want to crow too loudly. The way I see it is I did my part. MA in this area is healthy and growing. Becoming a District was a natural next step--the next right thing for us, if you will. And yes, I was the one who handled the official communications with MAWS, put together the appropriate reports for the business conference, etc., but I see all of that as part of my job as the area chair. It was the group conscience of the meetings here in the area to try and become a District. My job as area chair was to see the will of the area done.

I’m glad it has been, too. Marijuana Anonymous is doing good things, here in the greater Sacramento area. So here’s to you, District 18. You’ve saved my life and the lives of many others. God bless (or whatever name you give to your Higher Power) and congratulations!