Made direct amends to such people wherever

possible, except when to do so would injure them

or others

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This is the way drugs used to make me feel before they turned against me:

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Whenever I used drugs I knew… a new freedom and a new happiness

Whenever I used drugs I did… not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it

Whenever I used drugs I would… comprehend the word serenity and we would know peace

Whenever I used drugs… no matter how far down the scale I had gone, I could see how my experience would benefit others

Whenever I used drugs… that feeling of uselessness and self-pity would disappear

Whenever I used drugs I would… lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in my fellows

Whenever I used drugs… self-seeking would slip away

Whenever I used drugs my… whole attitude and outlook upon life would change

Whenever I used drugs… fear of people and of economic insecurity would leave us

Whenever I used drugs I would… intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle me

Whenever I used drugs I would… suddenly realize that drugs was doing for me what I could not do for myself

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Think about that a moment. No wonder I loved to use. When you find anything that will do that much for you immediately you become mentally addicted to the use of it. Mine was crack. Crack did for me what I could not do for myself. It was my friend and it worked for me like magic for years. But one day, it turned against me and all the things I was afraid would happen to me now began to happen because of the drug itself. I became an extremely confused individual not knowing I was a “Real Alcoholic”; I didn’t know I would never be able to recapture these feelings from drug use. I spent the last four, five – over ten years of my using desperately trying to get back to THE FIRST ONE. It almost destroyed me in the process. I learned later that it actually did – spiritually.

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I came to A.A. You gave me a book. I found a little program of action in this book. I began to apply it in my life. And one day, I woke up and found these promises in my head and I suddenly realized that

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the first nine steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

did exactly for me what drugs used to do for me

when they was my ‘friend’

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That’s why I don’t use drugs today. If I hadn’t found this somewhere, I wouldn’t even have looked. My God has a PURPOSE FOR ME. I would probably have gone back to using until it eventually completely consumed and destroyed me.

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But I don’t need to use because I found everything good that drugs gave me

through the first nine steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.

That’s the miracle of AA.

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At the same time, I realize it’s given me the good, I also realize:

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the first nine steps have never turned against me, the drugs did.

It was all a lie.

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I’ve never been placed in jail because of the first nine steps.

No lady has ever dragged me through the divorce courts because of the first nine steps.

I’m gainfully employed and can pass ANY drug test because of the first nine steps.

See, that’s a miracle!

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If you read those promises, you’ll see they all deal with the mind. None of them deal with the body.

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We came here restless, irritable, discontented,

filled with shame, fear, guilt, remorse, worry, anger, depression, etc.

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We work the steps,

we receive the promises – the promises of ALL the Steps.

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Certainly we have undergone a change in our personality. We have undergone a spiritual awakening already.

There are three distinct areas in Step Nine that are discussed in the Big Book. We will guide you through these and others issues that will arise.

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Want to know more? Please contact us so you can be enlightened.

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