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The only requirement for
membership is a desire to stop using marijuana. There are no dues or fees
for membership. We are self-supporting through our own contributions. MA
is not affiliated with any religious or secular institution or
organization and has no opinion on any outside controversies or causes.
Our primary purpose is to stay free of marijuana and to help the marijuana
addict who still suffers achieve the same freedom. We can do this by
practicing our suggested twelve steps of recovery and by being guided as a
group by our twelve traditions.
Marijuana Anonymous uses
the basic 12 Steps of Recovery founded by Alcoholics Anonymous, because it
has been proven that the 12 Step Recovery program works!
Who
Is a Marijuana Addict?
Who is a Marijuana
Addict?
We who are marijuana
addicts know the answer to this question. Marijuana controls our lives! We
lose interest in all else; our dreams go up in smoke. Ours is a
progressive illness often leading us to addictions to other drugs,
including alcohol. Our lives, our thinking, and our desires center around
marijuana---scoring it, dealing it, and finding ways to stay high.
The
Twelve Questions
 | Has smoking pot
stopped being fun? |
| Do you ever get high
alone? |
| Is it hard for you to
imagine a life without marijuana? |
| Do you find that your
friends are determined by your marijuana use? |
| Do you smoke marijuana
to avoid dealing with your problems? |
| Do you smoke pot to
cope with your feelings? |
| Does your marijuana
use let you live in a privately defined world? |
| Have you ever failed
to keep promises you made about cutting down or controlling your
dope smoking? |
| Has your use of
marijuana caused problems with memory, concentration, or motivation? |
| When your stash is
nearly empty, do you feel anxious or worried about how to get more? |
| Do you plan your life
around your marijuana use? |
| Have friends or
relatives ever complained that your pot smoking is damaging your
relationship with them? |
If you answered yes
to any of the above questions, you may have a problem with marijuana.
The
Twelve Steps of Marijuana Anonymous
The practice of rigorous
honesty, of opening our hearts and minds, and the willingness to go to any
lengths to have a spiritual awakening are essential to our recovery.
Our old ideas and ways
of life no longer work for us. Our suffering shows us that we need to let
go absolutely. We surrender ourselves to a Power greater than ourselves.
Here are the steps we
take which are suggested for recovery:
| We admitted we
were powerless over marijuana, that our lives had become unmanageable.
| Came to believe
that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
| Made a decision
to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we
understood God.
| Made a
searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
| Admitted to
God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our
wrongs.
| Were entirely
ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
| Humbly asked
God to remove our shortcomings.
| Made a list of
all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them
all.
| Made direct
amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would
injure them or others.
| Continued to
take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
| Sought through
prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we
understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and
the power to carry that out.
| Having had a
spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry
this message to marijuana addicts and to practice these principles in
all our affairs. |
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Do not be discouraged;
none of us are saints. Our program is not easy, but it is simple. We
strive for progress, not perfection. Our experiences, before and after we
entered recovery, teach us three important ideas:
| That we are
marijuana addicts and cannot manage our own lives;
| That
probably no human power can relieve our addiction; and
| That our
Higher Power can and will if sought. |
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The
Twelve Traditions of Marijuana Anonymous
| Our common welfare
should come first; personal recovery depends upon M.A. unity.
| For our group purpose
there is but one ultimate authority, a loving God whose expression may
come through in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted
servants; they do not govern.
| The only requirement for
membership is a desire to stop using marijuana.
| Each group should be
autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or M.A. as a
whole.
| Each group has but one
primary purpose, to carry its message to the marijuana addict who
still suffers.
| M.A. groups ought never
endorse, finance, or lend the M.A. name to any related facility or
outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige
divert us from our primary purpose.
| Every M.A. group ought
to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
| Marijuana Anonymous
should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may
employ special workers.
| M.A., as such, ought
never be organized, but we may create service boards or committees
directly responsible to those they serve.
| Marijuana Anonymous has
no opinion on outside issues; hence the M.A. name ought never be drawn
into public controversy.
| Our public relations
policy is based upon attraction rather than promotion; we need always
maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, t.v., film,
and other public media. We need guard with special care the anonymity
of all fellow M.A. members.
| Anonymity is the
spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place
principles before personalities. |
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