Forty years ago I happened to pick up the newspaper for the Edmonton Star and the headline read "Alcoholics Anonymous recovery rate 3 to 4 percent. It also compared our recovery rate as being the same as any detox or recovery home.

Naturally this infuriated me as I knew this to be an inaccurate statement. In our Big Book, it states that of those who work the 12 steps, 50% recover and never return to alcohol. Twenty-five percent recover after drinking again and re-entering the program. And of the remainder, many show improvement over the years.

I guess it is because of my loyalty to this program that I had a lot of trouble with that newspaper's statements. However, it wasn’t until I visited New York’s central office that this wonderful lady I met, who worked as that office’s secretary, informed me that the statement is actually true.

The reason why it is true is because going through the 12-step process is no longer a required part of membership. At the time, Alcoholics Anonymous only worked with low-bottom drunks. The hopeless variety. In the early days, the standard method of sobriety was the working the steps with regular meetings and helping other alcoholics. 

I was at a meeting when I ran into a fellow from those early days and he talked about how he spent over an hour on the phone convincing this guy that he had enough with drinking and was willing to do whatever it took to be able to stop. Then he waited for 2 hours for this guy to show up and was literally getting up from the curb (he had called from a phone booth) to leave when the fellow showed up. 

This man took him to his home, took him through the first three steps, and then took him to a meeting. After the meeting he returned to this man’s home and started on his step 4th step inventory. He was told if he balked, he would be gone. That style of 12 stepping is no longer commonly practiced. However I can understand why in the beginning it was. They had something that worked at bringing low bottom drunks to stable sobriety. 

They were not going to allow newcomers jeopardize the integrity of the program by someone who wasn’t willing to go to any length to get sober. This was because the 12-step process actually works!