The AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) fellow-ship is celebrating its 30th year of existence in Malta. Over these years it has worked in an all-embracing manner, enlisting various aspects of alcoholism without any reservation and assisting all those who had no limits over their drinking compulsion.
In 1981, Maltese members founded a croup in Floriana. A year later, Maltese women started attending meetings, making it easier for AA Malta to reach out to women struggling with alcoholism. Two other milestones were reached in 1986: the setting up of a general service committee and the founding of a group in Gozo.
AA worldwide saw the light of day in 1935 in Akron, Ohio, USA, with a joint venture started by Bob, a renowned physician, and a stockbroker, Bill, a golden figure enjoying success and power on Wall Street.
Without going into statistics or quoting figures, the conundrum is that, in Malta, alcoholism among different kinds of personalities is not at all fiction. It truly exists. It occurs every day. It is a tangible and a visible fact of everyday life. It constrains and causes different kinds of problematic outcomes.
The softening of the darker side of human existence reflects shifts in societies that can be harder to tackle since alcoholism as a plethora brings death, violence, parents abandoning children, separation and other ancillary and collateral woes.
Mounting concerns about alcoholism should be addressed with effective responsibility. I recall in this regard the legislation limiting alcohol consumption by minors presented in Parliament on November 15, 2006.
In these last 30 years, AA Malta has proven beyond any shadow of doubt that it is able to consistently receive alcoholics in its fellowship without any dues or fees and, as one mentor confided in me some while ago, the only requirement for membership of AA is a desire to stop drinking.
Who then is the alcoholic? It is the alcoholic himself who has to answer this question but people who know the special attitudes in this sphere say that alcoholism is a condition in which a person is addicted to alcohol. Drinking alcohol is not an addiction but drinking becomes alcoholism when one is unable to control one’s drinking. Addiction to drink in turn has a negative effect on drinkers’ lives and on the people around them. Alcoholism can easily start with binge drinking, that is, consuming several drinks in succession. Mainly youths between the ages of 18 and 22 suffer from this continual urge to “throw one more down the hatch”.
Alcoholism cannot be effectively addressed if it is done superficially. It has to be done through consultation with all parties involved. Bad news goes round wearing clogs and, so, when the first sounds are heard, nature’s warning has to be tackled immediately and not in a complacent manner.
In AA there is no timidity. Everyone is equal and there is no class distinction. There is no difference between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. AA Malta treats the powerless and the stronger fighters alike. Daily meetings are held in Malta – and at intervals in Gozo – in both English and Maltese and participants can express and share their innermost emotions in the most honest and outspoken way possible.
This is not an iconoclastic group because there is no form of religion attached to it, giving way to all creeds of ideologies, even agnostic ideals. There is freedom, personal liberty, frankness, independence, determination and boldness among members who give each other all the help they can possibly attribute. Vagaries and capriciousness are not on the table but one finds there a genuine intent to improve.
Local councils should instigate awareness in their localities and contact members of AA Malta to hold meetings within their community.
Action not words is the theme of it all. Alcoholism kills in every aspect of the word and education, legislation and awareness should be the order of the day as AA Malta has done over these past 30 years of progressive well-being for addicted alcoholics.