About 3000 years ago , the poet Homer told a story about a man called Odysseus and his voyage home to Greece following the Trojan Wars. Odysseus and his men met up with many exciting adventures along the way, but the most relevant to us is the story of his landing on the Island of the Lotus Eaters.

The island was so beautiful that Odysseus wanted to stay there awhile and rest up. So he sent out some scouts to determine if the natives were friendly. Odysseus waited and waited, but the scouts never returned. 

What had happened was this: The scouts had indeed met up with the locals, the Lotus Eaters, who turned out to be very friendly. The Lotus Eaters even shared their food with the scouts. But the food—the lotus—was a kind of dope, and the scouts got wasted from it and forgot all about Odysseus, their mission, getting back to Greece…everything. All they wanted to do was hang out, eat lotus, and get high.

Lucky for them, Odysseus came and dragged them kicking and screaming back to the ship. He tied them to their seats and ordered the crew to row like hell, in case anyone else might eat the lotus and forget the way home. 

The story of Odysseus is about more than just a Greek guy in a boat. It’s about the journey people take through life and the obstacles they meet along the way. The Story of the Lotus Eaters speaks particularly to us dopeheads. As addicts, we were stuck in a Lotus Land; we forgot our mission; we forgot the other adventures that awaited us; we forgot about going home.

Luckily, we each had within us our own Odysseus, our own Higher Power, which grabbed us by the collar and threw us back into the boat. So now we’re rowing like hell. We may not know what’s going to come next, but we’re back on our way through life again.

Adapted from the July, 1991 issue of A New Leaf

Reprinted from Life with Hope, Third Edition, page xxii, with permission of MA World Services.

The post The Story of the Lotus Eaters appeared first on Marijuana Anonymous.

These are some stories by a few of our members who have found how much being of service helped start their journey to recovery. Don’t get the wrong idea. You can’t do service in lieu of the Steps to get recovery. You can, however, let service start you on the road to sobriety, and from there you take the path of recovery.

You Can’t Keep What You Have Unless You Give It Away

The Marijuana Anonymous logo is a triangle with the letters MA inscribed in the center. The three sides of the triangle represent Unity, Recovery, and Service. Unity is the fellowship. Recovery is the Twelve Steps and the spiritual principles of the program, and Service is generally described as our commitments to the program and to carrying the message of Marijuana Anonymous. These three aspects of the program are not mutually exclusive. The Twelfth Step and the Fifth Tradition say that I must carry the message to stay clean. Therefore, without Service, there can be no Recovery. Without Recovery, there can be no Unity, and without Unity and the fellowship, there would be nobody to be of Service to.

Service has been an integral part of my program since I got clean. The types of service commitments I have held in the program are many and have evolved as I have grown spiritually in recovery. My first commitment was as treasurer of a meeting that was only two months old. I had thirty days. My sponsor, who I had obtained just hours before, had started the meeting and was acting secretary, GSR, and treasurer. He asked me if I had any service commitments at which time I said no. He then nominated me. Everyone else said they seconded the nomination, and before I knew what was going on, my sponsor handed me the treasury and a treasurer’s handbook, and said, “You are now the treasurer of the meeting, be here every week.”

Yes, I was a victim of a “railroading.” Probably a good thing too. Had I not been railroaded, I would have never committed. I was the type of addict that was very elusive. You could not pin me down to anything, especially not a commitment where I would be duty bound to show up somewhere once a week.

Since that time, I have held various service commitments at all levels. I have had the privilege and pleasure of representing my district at World Service Conferences, where I have participated in making decisions on how MA is going to carry the message of recovery throughout the world. Service to the fellowship has been an important part of my program, and has helped keep me clean. If I used, I would feel that I not only let myself down but also MA, as well as all my friends in MA.

During the time I have been of service to the fellowship, I have also been going through the recovery process and working on myself. I took the Steps and cleaned house.

Why Commitments Kept Me Sober

After about two weeks of attending my first meeting, I was asked if I would do the cookies & coffee for a week. I don’t remember exactly how, but I ended up being the refreshment person for the next six months.

What that did was make me go to the same meeting over and over. Being that it was a small meeting, that meant I would have to share because of the size of the meeting. By sharing, I walked through that first fear, the fear of not sounding good and maybe not looking good. In sharing early on, I learned that I wouldn’t be laughed at. I wasn’t told, “You’re wrong.” I wasn’t told, “That’s stupid” or, “Don’t come back.” I was told, “Keep coming back”, “We need you here because you’re a newcomer” and, “We want you here.” I learned that sharing helped remove the burden of guilt and fear I carried with me that was held in those dreaded secrets.

Also, by having made this commitment, it meant I was committed to going, regardless of whether I wanted to go or not. Looking back, sometimes I didn’t want to go for me, but I didn’t want to let you down, so I went for you. Funny how going for you did a lot for me. By going to the same meeting week after week, I started to get comfortable in the room. I was able to share more and more because I trusted you all more and more, thus helping me grow. I got out the negative things then and, by doing so, I didn’t have “The Committee” in my head to deal with as much. Because of sharing and removing the power of “The Committee”, that in turn allowed me to listen and find solutions to problems through the Steps. This helped me start to get closer to my Higher Power, and that got easier as I got more spiritual through practicing the Steps.

As more time went by, I got to be treasurer, thus keeping me coming back again and again. Between my refreshments commitment and being treasurer I went to that meeting 52 weeks in a row. I also learned about fellowship, due to my commitments, because after the meeting we would go out for coffee every week. There, I learned how to interact on a personal level. That let me get to know people better, grow more comfortable around them, and become part of the group. Basically, I got involved and I took direction from a sponsor. It was very important early on and helped me develop a good foundation for my program.

I’ve had a commitment of some kind or another from two weeks up until the present. I am still sober. I guess there is something good about commitments because the four people who followed me as refreshment person are also still sober.

Take on service, get involved, walk through your fear, become a part of. Don’t listen to the 100 reasons your head tells you why you can’t, and just…Do it!

My Cookie Commitment

I did six months as the “cookie guy” at my district’s largest meeting. The experience produced several results.

First of all, it meant that I had to be at the meeting. Let’s face it, fifty addicts deprived of their cookies would be an ugly situation! People could get hurt. The very idea of not showing up was out of the question. So, as long as I had to be there anyway…I might as well go sober.

The commitment also taught me a thing or two about humility, surrender, and control issues. On several occasions the secretary actually forgot to thank me! Or thanked the wrong person! Or how about the times I dutifully brought in the birthday cake only to find that some usurper to my authority had brought in another cake! …with prettier decorations!!! And as if that wasn’t enough to cause me to go out, there were the people that demanded veggies! Needless to say, all of these emotional traumas necessitated numerous crisis sessions with my sponsor.

Anyway, I survived my six months and gladly passed the commitment on to an unsuspecting newcomer. All and all, the experience caused me to grow up a little, it encouraged me to speak more with my sponsor, AND it helped keep me clean and sober. And just when I thought I was finally off the hook…they went and made me secretary!

MA, Commitments, and Me

I came into Marijuana Anonymous after twenty years of blotting out life with my pot. For me, this program saved my life. When I started sobriety, I was going to give it three months and then do a better job on killing myself than I had at the last try. That was five years ago.

Members told me very early on that commitments would help me “keep coming back.” They were right. Those 90 meetings in 90 days are very important for someone who used daily. I needed to get the habit of “NOT smoking” on a daily basis. My service commitments really helped me to show up on the days my stinkin’ thinkin’ told me it would be nice to just stay home and isolate. I took my first cookie commitment at two weeks. When I look back now, I have to laugh at all the goodies I brought. I was convinced that if I could just somehow get enough munchies there that the tiny meeting would grow. By the end of three months I had so many commitments that I was no longer trying to kill myself…I just didn’t have the time!

I became our county treasurer and soon found myself chasing all over town with paperwork for our first corporation. Our first corporate secretary “went out” right in the middle of the incorporation and, when he did, the reality of just how serious this disease is really hit home. I suddenly became very self conscious about my responsibilities as treasurer. And you know what? That was OK because there were days when the only thing that kept me clean and sober was “What would people think if their treasurer went back out?!” Of the three people who signed those original documents, I’m the only one still in these rooms. The pitifully low percentage of addicts who actually stay sober is downright amazing.

Questions

I never understood how this fellowship came to be, or even maintain itself, until I got into service. How did it work? When I put my money in the basket, where does it go? How do we get chips? Who makes the literature? What’s a district? What is World Services? Each week I went to meetings that had a room, chips, literature, and people responsible for the meeting. To get a service position you don’t have to be the most popular, have the coolest car, or even campaign for the position. My first commitment was as the literature person at my Friday meeting. I volunteered to take the commitment due to the fact that it was only temporary while the designated literature person was on vacation. Well, that person never came back and I was voted in. I wanted to be the very best and went a little overboard at first. That meeting then averaged from five to ten people. I not only had a Big Book and a Twelve & Twelve on the literature table, but two meditation books, ten bumper stickers, six bookmarks, and eight buttons!

My first District Service Committee meeting was overwhelming. That’s where the representatives from each meeting come together once a month to hear and vote on new information about and for MA. Did you know the Group Service Representative is your meeting’s group conscience? I could barely keep up with what they were talking about. After the meeting I pulled a friend aside and asked him if I was supposed to understand everything they were talking about at my first meeting? He laughed and said no and that I would catch on. I could not believe the organization this group had.

A lot of my questions now have answers. I understand that through unselfish responsible volunteers, this program continues to run. Tradition Eight in another program’s Twelve & Twelve states, “Freely ye have received, freely give.” Today I am working Traditions Two and Eight to the best of my ability.

Thoughts On Service

Marijuana Anonymous wasn’t around when I got clean and sober, so I attended other Twelve Step meetings. I had to put up with a lot of BS from alcoholics who didn’t want to hear about my “drug” problem. A lot of recovery was being talked about, but not much about how people were living without using marijuana, and that was what I wanted to hear about. I went to another Twelve Step group, but since I was a “laid back” ex-doper, it was difficult to identify with the meetings, which seemed a little too frantic for me. When I was taken to my first MA meeting, it felt like home.

My life in recovery has been a series of commitments which have sometimes helped me when I reached those forks in the road of happy destiny (which I am skipping along, not trudging). Sometimes I reach a fork in the road and think, “This would be easier if I was high”, and then I continue the thought and realize: 1. I really don’t want to be HIGH, I just don’t want the hassle. 2. I have made some commitments, in MA and my life, which I can’t fulfill if I go back to pot.

The most important commitment which I have made is to do the best I can to do my part to see that MA is here for the next addict and the ones that come later. Everyone can help MA grow and prosper by becoming willing to help and take an active part. The first job I had in service was to greet people as they came into the meeting. You would be amazed at how much more “at home” a person feels when greeted at the door by a hug, a friendly face, and a nice “Hello.”

My first sponsor told me that if I put one half of the effort into staying clean that I put into getting stoned, that I would succeed in my endeavor. So, I try to put more effort into service to MA. I think that all of us addicts need to search inside our hearts, pray to our Higher Power, and get our butts into Service. Good luck, I wish a happy and serene life to us all.

Commitment

Commitment, what a concept! “I can’t commit to anything, after all, I only live one day at a time.” This was a good excuse for me early in recovery to maintain my selfish and self-centered attitude. Of course, being newly clean and sober, I was only a taker. As far as what I had to offer the fellowship, well let’s just say that MA was a lot better off without the attitudes and character defects I came here with.

As I slowly integrated recovery into my clean and sober life, my gratitude level began to rise. The fog of nearly 3 decades began to lift and the wonderful society of MA became the primary focal point of my conscious contact with my HP (Higher Power). Being aware of this brought me to a full understanding and acceptance of Tradition One. Our common welfare Had to come first in my case. I knew that I had not come to where I was in sobriety on my own, nor by my own power. I also realized that I could not continue on my own either.

I will never forget the day I became “coffee maker.” Wow! My first commitment! It didn’t matter to me that I didn’t know how to make coffee in a 30 cup pot. Someone was there to show me how. I don’t take direction very well, so I forgot the instructions I had received and after about 5 or 6 weeks I noticed that people were not grimacing anymore when they drank my coffee. Even though they suffered through some awful tasting stuff, they nevertheless thanked me on a weekly basis for making the crap. This simple service commitment brought a new dimension to my life. It felt good to be appreciated and to be told so! People got to know me by name, and I got to know them. I began to experience the benefits of belonging to a home group, building relationships with people that I am still in touch with today, some of them dearest friends.

Well, now that I had arrived, I started to expand my service. I had hot tea, hot chocolate, cookies, etc. Sometimes I even had a helper. I kept this commitment for 9 months, until one day the group conscience decided it was time for a new coffee maker. At first I was hurt and resentful. You see, somewhere along the line this commitment became my “primary purpose.” My feeling of self worth came from this job. I was doing what is commonly known as working the Twelfth Step, as opposed to working Twelve Steps. My addict mentality was taking a wonderful thing like service and twisting it around to suit my own self-centered ego! Looking back, I see my view of commitment started out with apathy and mutated into control.

I eventually accepted the experience-based suggestions of the older members who told me that I needed the building up of my self worth early on, but now I was in danger of my own ego. I needed to pass on my commitment to someone else now, who needed it at this point in time just as much as I did 9 months before. How wise those early Twelve Step founders were to utilize the spirit of rotation in service!

One day at a time I stayed in MA. I have experienced service work on many different levels. I have entered each commitment exactly the way I did my first, not knowing how to do this thing. My HP always put the right teacher in my life when things got shaky. I learned that I did not have to do service alone, and that it was okay to ask questions. I hope I have honored my commitments, as service has helped put honor back in my life. I have stayed on long enough in each position to learn how to do them. I have stepped down from each commitment with some sadness, some feelings of inadequacy, and sometimes relief. I have tried to the best of my ability to “fight the good fight.” It’s been a long rewarding journey for me.

I have experienced great joy and great sorrow in recovery and more times than not it has been the people I have met in Service that have pulled me along when my spirit was faltering and my heart was crushed. These people were also there when my spirit was soaring. Such people! I would not change one thing in my past, with all its regrets, if it meant I would never have met YOU. You servants have enriched my life to a degree I never thought possible. You were there for me even when YOU didn’t know it! Through you, I have learned and experienced Love, Tolerance, Patience, and True Friendship. So you see, to not take a service commitment would have been tantamount to limiting my emotional and spiritual development. How fortunate I am to have stayed around long enough to get to the principles that are beyond all our personalities. If I don’t quit now I might start crying, so let me leave you with a quote:

“Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions, and the actions which speak louder than words. It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time, year after year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things. It is daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.”

The post Personal Stories About Personal Commitments appeared first on Marijuana Anonymous.

Each group has but one primary purpose, to carry its message to the marijuana addict who still suffers. (MA Tradition Five)

Our message is one of hope and promise that any addict can stop using marijuana, lose the obsession and desire to do so, and can discover a better way of life by following spiritual principles one day at a time.

Who is an MA member?

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using marijuana. (MA Tradition Three)

Membership is a personal decision. We do not measure anyone else’s desire to stay free of marijuana. We welcome all who are curious and interested in attending open meetings (some meetings are for addicts only). After attending meetings for a period of time, many people choose to identify themselves as members.

The Purpose of Our Meetings

The meeting is a safe place where marijuana addicts share their experience, strength, and hope, and learn about recovery. The healing power of one addict helping another is without equal. Only an addict can truly identify with another addict. By attending meetings, we nurture our own recovery from the disease of addiction, and help others recover as well. We experience a valued sense of belonging, security, and stability.

About Groups and Meetings

In Marijuana Anonymous, the terms Group and Meeting are generally synonymous. (In some other Twelve Step fellowships, there are distinct differences between groups and meetings.) MA does have a few groups in which more than one meeting may share common officers and a representative to the District. In most cases, however, each MA meeting has its own officers and representative(s) to the District and is, in effect, a group.

Choosing a Home Group

Many members choose a specific meeting as their home group, and attend this meeting regularly. Here we are introduced to the idea of sponsorship and the practice of service. We eventually participate in the group’s business, and realize the significance of our impact on the group consciousness.

When we choose a meeting as our home group, we make a commitment to support the meeting’s long-term success. This practice ensures a core of members are there to participate, guide, and serve. Everyone benefits from our experience and knowledge of the group’s history. New members learn from us the skills needed to maintain the group.

Suggested Meeting Procedures

Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or MA as a whole. (MA Tradition Four)

MA recognizes that all meetings are free to choose and design their format to best fit the group’s needs. In the spirit of unity, however, we encourage all meetings to start with the MA Preamble, and to include the reading of MA’s How It Works (Twelve Steps), and our Twelve Traditions. Other suggested readings may include The Twelve Questions of Marijuana Anonymous, Dangers of Cross Addiction, and Who is a Marijuana Addict?

Most groups hand out sobriety chips to acknowledge sobriety milestones and birthdays. Meetings usually include announcements from the group’s Secretary and a report about District matters from the Group Service Representative (GSR). Most meetings open and close with a prayer, such as the Serenity Prayer.

There are several types of meeting formats. Some meetings may combine them to some extent.

Participation Meetings encourage members to share their reflections on the program, their experiences, their problems, and their solutions.

Speaker Meetings enlist a specific member to share his or her experience, strength, and hope. Book and Step Study Meetings specifically study various recovery-oriented materials.

Topic Discussion Meetings choose to discuss specific recovery-oriented topics, usually chosen by the meeting’s leader.

Other possibilities include Candlelight Meetings, Meditation Meetings, and Online Meetings. We show consideration and respect for each other by being on time and listening to whatever is being said. We consciously avoid cross-talk (which includes side conversations, disrespectful gestures, comments on other members’ shares, and any other interruptions). It is essential that we respect each other’s confidentiality and anonymity. No one should ever find themselves hesitant to go to a meeting because they feel unsafe. We don’t go to meetings looking for romance or to promote our business interests.

Group Service and Commitments

Making a commitment to service work helps us stay clean and sober, and to keep coming back. It gives us the opportunity to practice loving unselfishness and benefits our own recovery, as well as the recovery of every member in our group.

Each MA meeting has volunteers to perform certain duties for the group. A meeting needs a Secretary. As a meeting grows, you’ll need to select a Treasurer, a Literature Person, and— depending on whether an MA District has been established—a Group Service Representative to the District. Other service positions might include a Chip Person, a Refreshments Person, a Greeter, a Timer, and a Clean-Up Coordinator. The MA Service Manual includes information about many of these positions. Meeting officer positions have suggested term limits. Rotation ensures that everyone has the chance to serve and prevents the concentration of power among a limited few. We remember that humility is the spiritual essence of anonymity.

Business Meetings, Informed Group Conscience, and Group Inventories

Business Meetings are held on a periodic basis. They are an opportunity to vote on meeting procedures and formats, financial matters, and the election of officers. All meeting officers should attend, and all group members are encouraged to participate.

When a meeting makes decisions, we seek an informed group conscience. This is an expression of the members’ collective desires rather than a dominant opinion or simple yes/no count. Informed means that pertinent information has been studied, and that all points of view have been given equal consideration. We make a special effort to seek unanimity, if possible, before the group takes definitive action.

Group Inventory is the exploration of how well we are fulfilling our primary purpose. We examine our Twelve Traditions, one at a time, and determine how well our group is adhering to these principles.

Our Financial Contributions

Every MA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. (MA Tradition Seven)

As MA members, we take responsibility for our recovery as well as our financial obligations. There are no dues or fees for membership. Everyone is welcome to attend regardless of their financial status.

Our group may have expenses such as rent; copies of literature, phone, and meeting lists; and refreshments. We “pass the basket” to give everyone a chance to help support our group. After expenses are covered (it is wise to keep a small prudent reserve), remaining funds are sent to the District for the services it provides. The District, in turn, sends its surplus to MA World Services. Some meetings divide their contributions between the District and MA World Services. MA does not accept outside contributions. This ensures that we remain indebted to no one, and that we remain true to our primary purpose. We are a spiritual, not a financial or political organization.

Fellowship and Socializing

Socializing often takes place before or after a meeting. It helps us develop a support group of clean and sober friends. It is a chance to deepen communication and explore concerns which may not have been discussed thoroughly during our meetings. Deep and lasting friendships often result. We make special efforts to always welcome newcomers into our groups. We avoid getting stuck in cliques and excluding anyone.

Starting an MA Meeting

Starting a meeting is a serious commitment. A few dedicated members must be prepared to “be there” for months as you gain a healthy core of committed members.

To start an MA meeting, all you need are two or more addicts and a place to meet. You can get a Starter Kit, which includes literature, suggested meeting formats, and other supplies, by contacting the MA World Services Office Administrator. You’ll need to get the word out in your community about your meeting. Being mindful of our Traditions, you may wish to circulate flyers, put ads in local papers, contact local hospitals and counseling agencies, or post flyers at local businesses.

If you are in an existing district, send a representative to the monthly District Service Committee meeting for assistance and supplies. Service manuals and copies of our book, Life with Hope, can be ordered from A New Leaf Publications.

P-13_en The MA Meeting and the Home Group (2025:05)Download

The post The MA Meeting and the Home Group appeared first on Marijuana Anonymous.

Marijuana Anonymous is a fellowship of people who share our experience, strength, and hope with each other that we may solve our common problem and help others to recover from marijuana addiction.

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.

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.

How does Marijuana Anonymous work?

(From the meeting format of Marijuana Anonymous)

How It Works

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:

1. We admitted we were powerless over marijuana, that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood God.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. 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.
12. 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.

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.

The Twelve Traditions of Marijuana Anonymous

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon MA unity.
2. 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.
3. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using marijuana.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or MA as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose, to carry its message to the marijuana addict who still suffers.
6. MA groups ought never endorse, finance, or lend the MA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every MA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Marijuana Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. MA, as such, ought never be organized, but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Marijuana Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the MA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. 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 MA members.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

What happens at an MA meeting?

All meetings are autonomous and formats vary from meeting to meeting. Sometimes there is a speaker. Sometimes we study the Steps or other literature. Many meetings have a topic for discussion.

We have no dues or fees and are proudly self-supporting through our own contributions. It is customary to pass the basket and uphold the Seventh Tradition. Newcomers need not feel obligated to contribute, others are privileged to do so.

If you have any questions that go unanswered, please introduce yourself to someone after the meeting and exchange phone numbers. We are all here to help.

Please remember that anonymity is the foundation of this program and that whatever is said at a meeting is not to leave that meeting.

The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

P–03     ©1991 MA World Services Conference Approved Literature

p03_Meeting-Format-en-ltr_202406Download

The post Introduction to MA: A Meeting Format in a Pamphlet appeared first on Marijuana Anonymous.

H&I stands for Hospitals & Institutions and is a public service arm of our program that works toward spreading the recovery message of Marijuana Anonymous.

District H&I committees reach out locally to hospitals and institutions (rehab centers, jails, schools, etc.) to make them aware that there is a Twelve Step program that addresses marijuana addiction. The H&I Committee offers to plan and arrange panels to speak to residents, inmates, students, etc.

What is a Panel?

A panel is a small group of Marijuana Anonymous members that convenes at an institution to speak about recovery. Each panel member shares experience, strength, and hope by telling their own story: what it was like, what happened, and what it is like now, with the emphasis on recovery.

The panel is comprised of a panel leader and up to four other members. The recommended sobriety (free from all mind altering substances, including alcohol) for a panel leader is at least one year, and for panel speakers, at least six months.

Panels can occur weekly, monthly or at any other frequency that suits the setting.

Why should I be on a Panel?

Can you remember the first time you heard about sobriety, the first time you heard about Marijuana Anonymous or another Twelve Step program?  Can you remember your first meeting, your first glimmer that there might be a better way to live— a happier, saner life free of marijuana?

Can you remember seeing hope in the eyes of another and the desire for change that inspired in you?

You can be the person that helps change the course of another addict’s life by serving on a panel for an hour or two, telling your story and sharing your strength and hope.

You can give back some of what you’ve received by sharing the miracle of your own recovery and sobriety.

H&I is one of the most rewarding of all services we can do in recovery. This is what some of our members have said about being on MA panels:

“Do a panel! This program doesn’t owe you anything, you owe it. If you are reading this now and you’re sober, you owe it to your sobriety to share with others what you’ve got.”

“One of the greatest gifts I’ve received in my sobriety was when I saw a man take a one year cake in Marijuana Anonymous. One year prior, I shared on a panel where he had been a patient. He came to Marijuana Anonymous because of that panel and what he heard. To see him take a cake was a feeling like I’ve never known before!”

“…On page 89 in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, it is summed up perfectly—‘Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail’. We find this to be a fact for marijuana addicts too.”

“Panels give me the opportunity to share with others my accomplishments in sobriety, and that the same is possible for any addict. If I can do it, you can do it!”

“All I can do is share my own experience strength and hope, to let you know where I came from, and where I am now. My greatest reward from all of this is when someone comes up to me after a panel to say they have felt the same way.”

“I had to detox in a hospital, and the main thing that kept me there at a time when I was so miserable all I wanted to do was go home and use, was panels coming in and sharing, showing us by their caring actions that it does get better. The opportunity to return that favor is the most rewarding commitment I can take.”

How should I conduct myself when I’m on a Panel?

First of all, remember that when you are on a panel, you do, in some way, represent Marijuana Anonymous, not just yourself. How you dress and the language you use reflects back on MA as a whole. Here are some simple guidelines to follow when you’re speaking on a panel:

• Avoid excessive use of profanity.
• Dress appropriately
• Tell your story but stay away from long drug-a-logues.

What Step and Tradition am I practicing by being on a Panel?

Step 12

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.

Tradition 5

Each group has but one primary purpose, to carry its message to the marijuana addict who still suffers.

What Traditions should I keep in mind when I speak on a Panel?

Tradition 10

Marijuana Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the MA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

Tradition 11

Our public relations policy is based upon attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, TV, film, and other public media. We need guard with special care the anonymity of all fellow MA members.

Tradition 12

Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

How can I be on a Panel?

At the meeting level, your Group Service Representative can tell you how to contact the district H & I Committee. Or attend a District Service Committee meeting yourself and volunteer your services for an H & I panel.

P03-en-ltr_202601Download

The post Why H&I Panels? appeared first on Marijuana Anonymous.

Marijuana Anonymous, like most other Twelve Step programs that came along after Alcoholics Anonymous, started “with a coffee pot and a resentment.” The addicts that started the first Marijuana Anonymous meetings didn’t feel comfortable sharing about their problems in the other programs aimed at chemical dependencies, and in some meetings, they were actually told that they couldn’t share. Eventually a few got enough sobriety (and enough courage) to start their own meetings aimed at their drug of choice, sometimes meeting in their own homes.

The diseases of alcoholism and addiction are the same no matter what the drug of choice, but sometimes the symptoms are different. You can use to go up or come down. Your substance of choice depends upon which way you want to go, and what you’ve been exposed to.

The early members of MA found that, for the most part, marijuana is a “high bottom” drug and they had a hard time identifying with some of the heavier substance abusers who had lost everything they had. Marijuana is also more tranquilizing than some of the speedier drugs and the early recovering pot addicts had a hard time identifying with addicts who used in order to get wired. Marijuana addicts tend to smoke their pot and just sit around and then sit around some more. They usually continue to function and even manage to hold on to their jobs, which sets them apart from many of the other substance abusers.

It is very difficult to go to a meeting and be called a “lightweight” by the other addicts when you are absolutely despondent about what is happening to your life and are trying frantically to get clean. Being told to “Come back when you get a real addiction”, doesn’t help either. Marijuana addicts already have a real addiction.

Members of MA range from addicts who did nothing but marijuana, to addicts who did everything possible and could get off everything else but not pot. They needed special meetings aimed at coping with marijuana addiction. Now they have a refuge among people who know that pot addiction is nothing to joke about.

Where did Marijuana Anonymous start?

Marijuana Anonymous started in a number of places at almost the same time. It is a program whose time had come. Some of the original meetings weren’t even called Marijuana Anonymous. There was a Marijuana Smokers Anonymous in Orange County, California, a Marijuana Addicts Anonymous in the San Francisco Bay Area, and two groups called Marijuana Anonymous, one in Los Angeles, and the other in Seattle, Washington. They all came into being around 1986 and 1987.

How did MA become just one group?

Unity happened with a lot of hard work and faith by some of the early members of the groups. The different organizations began to hear of each other through members traveling and moving. In 1989 it was decided that a few people from each of the areas would get together and see if they had enough in common to form one united organization. Delegates were chosen from the societies in Orange, Los Angeles and the Bay Area to meet in Morro Bay, California (a half way point for those three groups) for their first “Unity Conference.” The Seattle association was contacted by phone. The name Marijuana Anonymous was chosen as the Los Angeles group had already incorporated under that name. Some of the very basic ideas of Marijuana Anonymous were agreed upon during that first small meeting.

The delegates agreed to another meeting to be held in October of 1989. It was called the first General Service Conference. Delegates from the three California regions and the Washington group attended this meeting where the wording of the Steps and Traditions of Marijuana Anonymous was adopted.

Who started Marijuana Anonymous?

In theory, Bill W. did. As one of the founders of AA, he is the architect of all the Twelve Step programs. Different people (it always takes at least two for one addict to help another) started the Marijuana Anonymous meetings in each of the four original groups of Marijuana Anonymous. To remind us where the inspiration for our beginnings came from, the MA meeting format states: “Marijuana Anonymous uses the basic Twelve Steps of Recovery founded by Alcoholics Anonymous, because it has been proven that the Twelve Step Recovery program works!”

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 Traditions of Marijuana Anonymous

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon MA unity.
2. 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.
3. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using marijuana.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or MA as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose, to carry its message to the marijuana addict who still suffers.
6. MA groups ought never endorse, finance, or lend the MA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every MA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Marijuana Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. MA, as such, ought never be organized, but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Marijuana Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the MA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. 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 MA members.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

P-05_en Why Marijuana Anonymous (2025:05)Download

The post Why Marijuana Anonymous? appeared first on Marijuana Anonymous.

One of these days is YESTERDAY, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. YESTERDAY has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back YESTERDAY. We cannot undo a single act we performed; We cannot erase a single word we said. YESTERDAY is gone.

The other day we should not worry about is TOMORROW, with its possible adversities, its burdens, its larger promise. TOMORROW is also beyond our immediate control. TOMORROW, the sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in TOMORROW for it is as yet unborn.

This leaves only one day – TODAY. Any person can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when we add the burdens of those two awful eternities – YESTERDAY and TOMORROW – that we break down. It is not the experience of TODAY that drives people mad. It is remorse or bitterness for something which happened YESTERDAY and the dread of what TOMORROW may bring.

Let us, therefore, live but ONE day at a time.

Author Unknown

The post Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow appeared first on Marijuana Anonymous.

Notre ancienne façon de vivre et nos vieilles idées ne fonctionnent plus pour nous. Notre souffrance nous démontre que nous devons lâcher prise de façon absolue. Nous nous abandonnons à une Puissance Supérieure à nous-mêmes. Voici les étapes que nous suivons et qui sont suggérées pour le rétablissement:

1. Nous avons admis que nous étions impuissants devant la marijuana, que nous avions perdu la maîtrise de nos vies.
2. Nous en sommes venus croire qu’une Puissance supérieure nous-mêmes pouvait nous rendre la raison.
3. Nous avons décidé de confier notre volonté et notre vie aux soins de Dieu tel que nous Le concevions.
4. Nous avons procédé sans crainte à un inventaire moral approfondi de nous-mêmes.
5. Nous avons admis à Dieu, à nous-mêmes et à un autre humain la nature exacte de nos torts.
6. Nous étions tout à fait prêts à ce que Dieu élimine tous ces défauts.
7. Nous Lui avons humblement demandé de faire disparaître nos défauts.
8. Nous avons dressé une liste de toutes les personnes que nous avons lésées et nous avons consenti réparer nos torts envers chacune d’elles.
9. Nous avons réparé nos torts directement envers ces personnes dans la mesure du possible, sauf lorsqu’en ce faisant, nous risquions leur nuire ou nuire d’autres.
10. Nous avons poursuivi notre inventaire personnel et promptement admis nos torts lorsque nous nous en sommes aperçus.
11. Nous avons cherché, par la prière et la méditation à améliorer notre contact conscient avec Dieu, tel que nous Le concevions, Lui demandant seulement de connaître sa volonté à notre égard et de nous donner la force de l’exécuter.
12. Ayant connu un éveil spirituel comme résultat de ces étapes, nous avons essayé de transmettre ce message d’autres toxicomanes de la marijuana et de mettre en pratique ces principes dans tous les domaines de notre vie.

Ne soyez pas découragés, aucun d’entre nous n’est un saint. Notre programme n’est pas facile, mais il est simple. Nous recherchons le progrès et non la perfection. Notre expérience avant et après le début de notre rétablissement nous a appris trois idées importantes:

• Que nous sommes des toxicomanes de la marijuana et avons perdus le contrôle de notre vie;
• Que probablement aucun pouvoir humain ne peut nous libérer de notre toxicomanie; et
• Que notre Puissance Supérieure le peut

Tiré de Service Manual 8.0 page 96, avec la permission de MA World Services.

The post Notre Méthode – French appeared first on Marijuana Anonymous.

Reprinted From I Put My Hand in Yours ©1968…1995 with permission of Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.

The post Unity Prayer – O.A. appeared first on Marijuana Anonymous.

1. Admitimos que éramos impotentes ante la marihuana, que nuestras vidas se habían vuelto ingobernables.
2. Llegamos a creer que un Poder superior a nosotros mismos podía restaurarnos al sano juicio.
3. Decidimos poner nuestras voluntades y nuestras vidas al cuidado de Dios, como nosotros lo concebimos.
4. Sin miedo hicimos un minucioso inventario moral de nosotros mismos.
5. Admitimos antes Dios, antes nosotros mismos, y antes otro ser humano la naturaleza precisa de nuestros defectos.
6. Estuvimos completamente dispuestos que Dios remueve todos eso defectos de carácter.
7. Humildemente pedimos a Dios que nos liberara de nuestros fallos.
8. Hicimos una lista de todas aquellas personas a quien habíamos hecho daño y llegábamos estar dispuestos de tratar de rectificárselo todo.
9. Hicimos reparaciones directas a tales personas al extenso posible, excepto cuando se le hubiera hecho más daño a ellos o otras personas.
10. Continuamos haciendo nuestro inventario personal y cuando nos equivocábamos lo admitíamos inmediatamente.
11. Buscamos a través de la oración y la meditación mejorar nuestro contacto consciente con Dios, como nosotros lo concebimos, rezándole solamente que nos deja conocer su voluntad para nosotros y que nos dé la fortaleza para cumplirla.
12. Habiendo obtenido un despertar espiritual como resultado de estos pasos, tratamos de llevar el mensaje a los adictos de marihuana y de practicar estos principios en todos nuestros asuntos.

No sea desalentado: ninguno de nosotros es un santo. Nuestro programa no es fácil pero es sencillo. Luchamos para progresar no para ganar la perfección. Nuestras experiencias, antes y después de comenzar nuestra recuperación, nos enseñan tres ideas importantes:

• Que somos adictos a la marihuana y no podemos gobernar nuestras propias vidas;
• Que probablemente no hay poder humana que nos puede aliviar nuestra adicción; y 
• Que el Poder Superior puede hacerlo y lo hará si se lo pedimos.

Reimpreso del Manual de Servicio 8.0 página 92, con permiso de MA World Services.

Aprobado para equipo de iniciación—Conferencia de MA World Service, Febrero 1990

The post Como Funcionan Los Pasos – Spanish appeared first on Marijuana Anonymous.