TIME JULY 10.1995S2.95 Run? If Colin Powell has the nerve, he could change America 724404

MOSCOW SUMMIT: There are now some I5,OOO members of A.A. in Russia For some A.A. veterans, this role becomes complicatecl when ol.her kinds of highs ar-e involved. Helen, a rnember for 2l years, recalls a youllg womiur who told the gr oup at :r meeting tr f’ew years a{tl that lrer biggest thrill had been going to a “sl.rooting gallery.” btrlng clrugs and injec:ting them. I-learing that, I:lclen told r friend thirt lrer biggJest thrill hacl lrcen going to thc cocktail lounge at New York Cityt Sherry Netherland Hotel because they had grent ch’inks and hot hors dircuvres. “‘l’lre old-timers are heing ch’iven away by not being able to identil, with the specifics of per.rplc’s drug stories,-‘agrees Peter, a six-year vcteran. “The issue isn’t getting more people into A.A. but kecping tlre ones wc have.” A number of yorrnger rnembcrs clo not dispute I SOCIBTY that tl.rey are in A.A. tbr difl’erent rctrsons. “l clefinitcly think there is a split,” says

$obering Times for A.A. Rusty. 27. wlro has been in the prograrn eight years. “‘l’he difference is what it’s like being sober between Amid cultlrre clashes and global growth, the group turns 60 thc ages of 19 ancl 27 instcad ol’ coming in at 50 with a By ELIZABETH GLEICK ing joinecl by youngcr people-ancl rnarriage, a job and a nrortgage. t don’t worilen, gtrys ancl minorities-as well as by l<rruw tr lit’etime rtf disappointment ancl l,col.Iot,tsM Lrst.tD ‘t() lrti A sECRU’r thosc rvho are sort to A.A. as part of a court pain. My I’riends wlro came in at l8 and lg held close. known r-rrrly to the suffcr- sertence. ‘l’he nervconrers olten bring an h:rvc had incredible success.’l’hey get beter’s lovecl oltes, lrncl carryirrg l hulslr arrtry oltanr:illtrry proltlems to meetings, il’r- tcr’.iobs, ancl they nlovc on. lOlder rnemsot:ial stigrna. llut trnycrne walking tlre clucling ernotional lrauma and acldiction to bcrs makc youl f-cel you’re doing sornestrects of clowr.rtor.r,n San l)icgr lrrst wcek- other clrugs. As thc organizatiolr metarnor- thing wrong to go lor it. llut it’s not their cnd lvotrld hinc scor littlc sigu thilt arry ol’ phoses. its supporterrs wonder whethcr show turymore.” And whethcr other mcrnthe cstirrratccl 60.(XX) rccovcring alcoholics A.A. can or shoulcl be such tr ltig tort. bcrs lelate to her or not, l)ezerie, a 19arrrl Al-r\nrrn r-r-rcrnbers trthncling tl-re Alco- “‘l’lrat’s lr rc;rl question,” says Ceorgc Vrril- ycar-olcl frour Pasadcna, Cjalifirrnia, cares holics r\nonynrous cunvcntiorr therc werc lzrnt, llroltessor ol’ psychiatry at Ilarvarul only tlrat A.A. works. “lt’s the people and arrything but loucl :rntl prond. Celebrlting Medictrl School ancl an expert on A.A. the spirit at A.A.,” slre says. “This is a place thLr gl’r)ul)’ri 60th iurnivelsilry, parti(:ipants “Whcre. is the line? Wlrat is the res;mnsible whcre I cr)me and I don’t f’eel alone anyti’om 72 cou ntricrs sporting first-narnr:-only lir.n it of tolerancrl?” registrrrtion tradges flirshed smikrs trnd of- At A.A. rneetings everywherr:-in Ibrecl greeting.s kr tlre peol>lc they passcd church basenents, on ctrrnpuses ancl in hosalong the San l)iego waterlirrnt. pitals and prisons-ccrtain basic prir.rciltlcs Olearly in its ltlime. the nation’s 1>r’e- holcl. Uncler a cloak of strict anonymity tlrc. emincr-rt alcoholisrn-treatnrent organiza- “drunk.” to use a populirr A.A. worcl, olicn tion is also unclLrrgoing sornething of a micl- adrnits his alcoholisrn lrcfore tl’re gl’oup, rtclif’e c:risis. -t’hough A.A. cltrin-rs rlearly 2 knowledging that alcoholism is ir cliseme lbr million rlemllers wrrldwicle, in the tJ.S. its which abstinence is the or.rly answer. Must growtl.r has come at a cost. I.’ouncled in I935 adherents trlso believe they will never reby Nclv Yolk stockbrokcr Bill Wilson ttnd cover but insteacl will always lrc “in recov- C)hio surgeon llob Snrith. A.A. is no longer ery.” Tl.rough rnitny whp feel they have been .iust tr f’ellowship of down-and-out nren savecl by A.A. cannot explain exactly how or whosc drinking has led thenr, in A.A. par- why it works, they do believe they stay sober’ LOUD AND PROUD: Gonventioneers sDent lar.rce, to “hit botton.r.”‘Ihe veterans are be- by helping others sti,ry sober too. an estimated $4O million in San Dieio

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more the way I used to whcn I wirs drinking and doing drugs.” A.A.’s ftlrlclamental princilrles are also coming in for criticisnr. lior sotne peol>le. A.A.’s spiritual overtorres prcsent prob- Gan a Drunk learn Moderation? lems. (Step ‘Iwo of the famous Twelve IoR AUDREv KISHLINE, 38, or eNru ARBoR, MICHIGAN, THE MoMENT oF Steps requires recognizing “a Powcr l- truth came one evening several years ago, when she consumed a single glass greuter than ourselves.”) Rational Rectlv- ,F of wine with dinner. According to the most cherished tenets of all the A.A. ery, whiclr begtrn in Ig86 as a sccular:rlter- I meetings she had attended siricc her late 20s, that tiny slip off the wagon native to A.A., clair.ns groul)s in sonre 600 should have been enough to condemn the young mother of two to repeat her cities :rrouncl the cor”rntry, rnany of thcm history of unqrntrolled drinking. Instead, she says, “l realized that it was my filled with A.A. relirgees. Othcr therapies, choice. Thatthis orreglass of winewasasmall, thoughenjoyable, partof mylife.” such as Moder-ation Munagenrcnt, htlld She tbund that slre could limit her alcohol constrmption to a few glasses of wine that fbr sonre lrroblenr clrinkers, abstinen(:rr a week and returned to the ranks of responsible srrcial drinking. fronr alcrohol is not the answer. Heartened by her discovery and angry that she had suflbred A.A.’s rigid dis- A.A. has a longstanding policy of cipline for so long. Kishline decided to create a support group and treatment apavoiding public: clelrater. l]ut lhc loosely proach of her own. A little research qtrickly revealed that controlled drinking, stmctured organization, trclnrinistcrecl by as opposed to total abstinence. is an aceeptable therapy in rnany parts of the a small staff in Ncw York City nnd funded wortd. Her own program, Moderation Management, begins with:r month of abby donations arrd l-nok sakrs, c:otttitrues to stinencc. After that, menrbers are given drinking guidelines: ftrr men, no more expald. arnd now has about 7()0,o00 n-renr- than tbtrr drinks on any given day and a maximum of 14 drinks a week. Women, bcrs outsicle tlre fl.S. ln sonre places, its whose smaller size means they rnetatrolize alcohol differently, are advised to stop uniquely Americirn f’lavor takes getting at three drinks a day and consume no mor€ than nine in a week. Neither sex used to. “‘I’hc first tinrc I read should drink every day. the Twelve Steps. I thought, Although Moderation Management ‘This is pure imperialisrrr,”‘ claims just 400 adherents at present, Kishsays Slava, a Russian woman line, who recently published a book on the who has lx-‘en sober fbl rnore I subject, is already something of a pariah in than five years. A South Afl”iczrn recovery circles. Antialcohol groups have nrember who attentlecl last issued press releases condemning her weekend’s San l)icgo conven- approach, and individual members of tior.r said the only place tlrerrl A.A. have blasted her thinking as just anwas no apartheid in South other form of denial. It is almost as if she Africa during that brutal had called for the abolition of A.A. itself. regime was at A.A. meetings. In fact, Kishline has merely helped bring ln Poland the first A.A. conven- into the open one of the most contentions tion in 1984 attractcd 27 and enduringdebates in addiction research: gloLrps from across the coun- whether most people who repeatedly abuse try; there are now 940 groups. alcohol suft’er from a disease over which Professor Wiktor Osiatynski. chairrnan of Gountingcocktailrlikecalortee they have no control, or whether they are the Comn.rission of Eclucation on Alco- engaging in a freely chosen, if unhealthy. pattern of behavior. holisrn in Warsaw’s Stefan tsal.ory Founda- On the one hand, many scientists take issue with A.A. dogma. Says physition, says A.A.’s rapid rise in Poland catr cian Stanton Peele, an addiction expert: “Every major teuet of the disease view largely be attributed kr the Solidarity tracle- of addiction is refuted both by scientific research and by everyday observation.” tunion movenrent. “Solidarity rvas thc first Treatment progmms in Canada, Britain” Cermany and Australia have long disevent in Poland’s history where people be- tinguished between problem drinkers, who consume too much alcohol but can gar.r to realize that they could tackle tl.reir cut back if they get help, and hard-core alcoholics, whose only hope is a lifetime problenrs by organizing themselves. in- of sobriety. Even the most avid proponents of abstinence admit that some forstead of looking to their lcaclem, to someone mer alcoholics have successfrrlly navigated the road to moderate drinking. else, to solve thcir problenrs,” he says. On the other hand, the two camps disagree profoundly on whether it is a The atrility of A.A. to thrive elsewlrere in small or large nurnber of people who can make the switch. In Kishline’s view, the world suggests thrrt the organization is there are four times as many problem drinkers as hard-core alcoholics. “Modadaptive enough to absorb all tlresc cultural eration Management becomes a weeding-out point for chronic drinkers,” shei shifts. For one thing if a visitor does not like maintains. “If they can’t handle our limits, then it’s obvious that they have a more one meeting, there is often anothcr sonre- serious problem, and we refer them !o an abstinence-based program.” But her wlrere else nearby. “People vote witl’r tl.reir critics argue that less than 107a of people who abuse alcohol, and perhaps as litfeet,” says Peter. “At sorne point a lot of tle as 17o, can maintain moderate-drinking habits the rest of their litb.’Nobody groups won’t be A.A. groups anymore. I in the trenches is impressed with [controlled drinking],” says Ceorge Vaillant, a won’t be in those meetings.” Iim, ir 30-year professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who is an expert on A.A. veteran who is a partner in a top-flight “Every time someone makes a good case, just wait l0 years, and you’ll see Boston law firm. renrains sanguine. “Right they’re wrong.” foom the beginning, A.A. was a cross section As anyone whose life has been affeetedbyproblem drinking lcrows, the stakes that reflected what was happening in soci- in the debate are high. And the success or failure of a moderation approach can ety,” he says. “AA. is shong enough to onlybemeasurdovermanyyears,onedrinkatatime. chdfrlre Gomarr, survive.”-Reporled W Sam Allisl Boston, ReWtud by Ljse ficlanBfrhrllfu Yolr ryd Sam Afs/Mr -4 Sylvesier MonroelSan Dfugo, Tadeusz L. krcharski lWarsaw, tenniler Wamer I Moscow

50 fil\tlj..1t]LY 10.1995