Thanks for taking the time to read it. I've seen a lot of material on this subject and most comes off as just AA bashing. This piece seems unbiased and quite thoughtful for the reasons you mentioned.

I'm glad your friend got their life back together through the program. Having been down that road myself I believe rehabilitation and anonymous support go hand in hand. Help aside, it's mostly on the individual whether they succeed or not. People have different ideas of sobriety. My biggest issue with AA was the absolute stubborness of their mission. You will follow all these steps and you will go to meetings for the rest of your life or you will die!

My other issue was the cliqueness of it. Many I met in the program treated it like high school. A popularity contest. God help you if you became romantically involved with one of them. I'd say half the people I knew seemed addicted to the program itself. That left a bad taste in my mouth. They had replaced one addiction with another. I guess it's better than drugging and drinking yourself to death but it's still a compulsion that rules you. I cleaned myself up, rebuilt the life I'd destroyed, and moved on. AA played a part, but doctors and medicine is what saved my life. Different strokes I guess. The biggest thing I learned was not to judge people. Whatever works for the ones you love.