Celebrated 21 Years "On The Waggon”

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30952, 7 January 1966, Page 2

Celebrated 21 Years "On The Waggon”

A New York woman visiting Christchurch yesterday celebrated a twenty-first anniversary with friends and without drink. Eve M., a staff member of the Alcoholics Anonymous World Service Office, marked 21 years “on the waggon.”

In the eyes of nondrinkers this is no mean achievement, but Eve M. thinks nothing of it and said she can live quite comfortably and lead a normal life without alcohol without any difficulty.

Eve M. considered that she was an alcoholic from the time she was born, although she was 17 before she took her first drink. She said she had .'ll the tendencies and complexes which mark the alcoholic and from the time she took her first drink and for the next 17 years until she joined A.A. was completely dependent on alcohol.

All the same Eve M. maintains like all other members of A.A., that she is an arrested alcoholic and not a reformed drinker.

"It is an illness like kleptomania. An alcoholic must drink. Only by abstinence can the alcoholic become a

whole person again,” she said.

Eve M. is lucky. She recognised her illness and took steps to arrest it. But there are many other women who are alcoholics who do not recognise the fact that they are alcoholics. These are the hidden drinkers who do not attract public notice. They drink at home because they are bored, unhappy, or lack confidence to face life.

They start in a minor way, often with a sweet pleasanttasting alcohol which seems like a cordial and sooner or later they start a drink like a cordial in large glasses several times a day, always rationalising their actions. “Money is no problem to the alcoholic—man or woman —he can always find some way to get a drink.” said Eve M. Although A.A. is there to help it can do nothing until the alcoholic recognises his illness and goes to A.A. himself. Since A.A. started in America 30 years ago with

-two members, thousands of - people throughout the world have recognised they are alcoholics. Today there are 12.000 groups in 90 countries. L’.S. Membership

Eve M. estimated that in the United States alone, between 300.000 to 500,000 men and women were members of A. A.

In addition, there is a separate fellowship called Alanon for the families of alcoholics. This group helps people to understand the problems of the alcoholic and encourages them to help alcoholics to seek assistance through A.A. Eve M. is on a year’s leave of absence from her New York office. She is in New Zealand meeting A.A. groups as part of a world tour. She said that although A.A. members do not drink, A.A. was not a temperance movement. “Others can drink as much as they like.” A.A. is financed entirely by members. “We have been irresponsible before and now we must be responsible,” said Eve M.