Hi there. I'm a regular poster in the AA forums because alcohol is my DOC, but I've been mainly going to NA meetings because there isn't the constant talk of alcohol that there is in AA meetings that I find can sometimes trigger relapse, especially in newcomers.

Every NA meeting I've ever been to (and in the NA books) starts with the preamble that states: "Thinking of alcohol as different from other drugs has caused a great many addicts to relapse. Before we came to NA, many of use viewed alcohol, separately, but we cannot afford to be confused about this. Alcohol is a drug. We are people with the disease of addiction who must abstain from all drugs in order to recover."

However whenever I go to a meeting, people are outside chain-smoking before and after meetings and are guzzling coffee in the meetings.

Is there not some hypocrisy in this? Even your sponsor will ask you to talk over coffee (though I know you don't actually have to order coffee). I've always refrained from caffeine simply because of my anxiety 'disorder'.

But hell, even sugar is a drug. It was the first drug I was ever addicted to as a child. I would steal money for candy, or just steal the candy. I'd use it to get "sugar high". When I stopped drinking I found myself once again craving massive amounts of sugar. I did a Google search on this and it is actually quite common to crave sugar when one stops drinking. In addition: "All the research has shown that when people binge on carbs and sugar, and then restrict, the body creates an endogenous opioid. It is released in the body much like the chemicals released when people are doing other narcotics. The PET and CAT scans of food addicts look almost identical to that of alcoholics and drug addicts, showing that sugar creates a physical addiction. In addition, sugar addicts carry the same D2 dopamine receptor, the gene that identifies addiction, as alcoholics and addicts. In those ways, biochemically, food addiction is just like addiction to drugs and alcohol. When we talk to recovering alcoholics and addicts who are finding their way to Overeaters Anonymous, we find a very common refrain: I started using sugar or food just like I was using alcohol."

There's all sorts of addictions (shopping, eating, sex, gambling) and people in recovery often substitute one addiction for another. If the new addiction is not completely harmful to your health, like another drug problem, I suppose it is still progress in one way or another. Not in terms of moderation, but at least you're not killing yourself. Though it still can drain your bank account.

Also, I know it would be ridiculous to expect people in recovery to never take a Tylenol for a headache or to abstain from eating or shopping or sex(yikes!).

I think it's the people chain-smoking before and after meetings that got to me the most. There is no moderation in this. These people are still killing themselves, just without the hangover. Though I've heard a slow death from cancer can be quite the hangover indeed.

I'm not trying to judge or point fingers, that is not my place. It just seems ironic to me that NA professes "abstinence from all drugs", and also supports and encourages members who over-indulge in smoking and coffee drinking. What do you think about complete abstinence while still using caffeine and nicotine and other substances (and addictions)? Where do you draw the line?