We
quote:
“As
for the current background on the CMA’s path way to AA:
Basically,
the “court slip” system usually consists of someone getting a
drunk driving citation, upon sentencing the Judge order’s the
Probation Department to perform an alcohol assessment (the Judge used
to just sentence them directly to AA but the US Constitution says
that is 'verboten' under the first Amendment “separation of church
and state”). The probation department’s Alcohol assessment almost
always comes back with the need for AA meetings (average of 3 a
week). It never comes back that the State should pay for in patient
treatment ($$$$)! Weird that all those drunk drivers in my state and
NONE needs detox ($$$$) and very few need nothing other than to wake
up and not drive when they have had two drinks???
More
background on the court slip system, we have a group in the States
called Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD). They will sit in the
court room and if the Judge is not harsh on the convicted Drunk
Driver they will launch a letter to the editor writing campaign at
election time. Yes our lower level Judges are elected. The probation
department does not want MADD to be able to say that they could have
prevented a death by sentencing a probationer to AA
so................. they send everyone to AA. That way their
backsides are covered in the event the probationer re-offends and
kills someone.
The
Judges need the backing of the Sheriffs (who run the jails) at
election time. If you are a Judge and the Sheriff comes out for your
opponent, you might have a hard time getting re-elected. So the
Judges protect the Sheriffs jail budget by not sending anyone to
jail! So our affiliation is with politics, money, religion, outside
agencies of the court and MADD! A side note about MADD, their
secondary cause is to stop underage drinking which is a form of
alcohol reform and temperance.
Finally, the system keeps expanding. We now get teenagers who got caught after the football game sharing a bottle of wine. We have gotten wife beaters, shoplifters, speeders and delinquent child support parties. We have people who can’t see their kids for visitation unless they have a signed court slip for the week before.
Second
final note and question, as I have said before we are now averaging
50% CMA’s (some far worse) in our CLOSED meetings. What levels are
you hearing about from others who have contacted you about this
matter? Do they have CMA’s in CLOSED meetings? What levels are you
experiencing under the chit system? Are they in CLOSED meetings?
Third
final note, I have visited areas that have primarily OPEN meetings
and the court slip system is not working there either. Open
discussion meetings were originally set up to provide information for
the curious problem drinker. That party would come to an OPEN
discussion meeting and learn about alcoholism and our solution. After
a few meetings they would decide if AA was for them. If it was, they
would join. The key was, if it wasn’t for them they went on and did
what they wanted to do. Many times that was to go drink with the
words of AA ringing in their ears. Many came back after a while and
join AA forever. They didn’t show up for 3 meetings a week for 1
year. OPEN discussion meetings used to have about one curious party a
month, the other weeks they just functioned as a AA meeting.......
Feel free to incorporate any of this information into your blog. It is true to the best of my knowledge and some of the background information on the functions of the Courts comes from parties who have worked in the system.
Thanks,”
We
would be interested to hear from other AA members with regard to
their own experience and/or observations of the CMA ('chit') system
(good or bad). We can be contacted at our email address here.
Confidentiality assured
Cheers
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
PS
Our thanks to this member (US) for their contribution to the debate
