A Message
to the Older Alcoholic:
It's Never Too Late
to Get Help and Start Living
New York, November 2001---With 13 percent or more of its members over age 60*, Alcoholics Anonymous is responding to the need to reach out to older alcoholics who feel it’s too late to turn their lives around.
Part of this effort is the publication of a new pamphlet in large, easy-to-read print, “AA for the Older Alcoholic—Never Too Late.”
Many people today are acquainted with AA “oldtimers” who have been comfortably sober for years. Less visible are those who sought help late in life.
In this new pamphlet, just released by AA World Services Inc. (AAWS), are the newly published stories of 13 recovering alcoholics aged 60 to 83.
Their histories speak to older people whom the illness of alcoholism had robbed of hope, confidence and the ability to cope with inevitable life changes---retirement, children grown and far away, loss of a home, death of a mate, the physical aches of aging, feeling alone and no longer needed.
Says J.M., 82, recalling how he felt after joining AA at 60: “For the first time in my long life, I realized what alcohol had cost me in ruined hopes, loss of pride, failed relationships and the pleasures of intellectual achievement.
"AA lifted the alcoholic fog that had enveloped me, restored me to the loving bosom of my family, and again allowed me to enjoy the beauty and wonders of nature.”
While some of these members began drinking in their late teens, other older members say they began drinking alcoholically after a late-life crisis, and many report drinking to ease fear, tension and loneliness.
One woman, who went directly from the cardiac care unit to detox, merely switched from vodka to white wine and “willpower” before accepting help from AA. Seventy-nine years old and sober seven years, F.M. now says, “I have found peace and serenity. AA has been my U-turn.”
Like all books, pamphlets and audio/visual material published by AAWS, this pamphlet has been approved by AA’s General Service Conference, which is the voice and conscience of the society. It offers a lifeline to the AA Fellowship for older alcoholics through the sharing of men and women like them who came to AA in their later years and found, as one of them observed, “it’s never too late to start living.”
One of the first AA Conference-approved pamphlets addressed to a special population group appeared in the early 1950s, when “Letter to a Woman Alcoholic” was published. It has helped thousands of alcoholic women overcome their fears, identify with other alcoholics and find sobriety in AA.
Since then, when a strong need for information and sharing has arisen, it has been filled by such pamphlets as: “Young People and AA” and “Too Young?” (illustrated); “AA and the Armed Services”; “AA in Correctional Facilities”; “It Sure Beats Sitting in a Cell”; “Do You Think You’re Different?”; “AA for the Native North American”; “AA and the Gay/Lesbian Alcoholic”; and “Can AA Help Me Too? Black/African Alcoholics Share Their Stories” (see related story).
Most of these pamphlets are also available in Spanish and French. Several are available in other languages as well.
To obtain copies of “AA for the Older Alcoholic—Never Too
Late,” and other AA information, call your local AA Intergroup or Central Office, listed under "Alcoholics Anonymous" in the phone book. Contact information can also be located on the General Service Office Web site (www.aa.org).*1998 Alcoholics Anonymous Membership Survey
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