Here are some tips to help you stay clean and sober. Make sobriety your #1 priority, go to meetings daily, get a sponsor and call your sponsor every day, and work the Twelve Steps of Cocaine Anonymous with your sponsor.
Currently, six to ten percent of the United States’ general population are deaf or hard of hearing. Of that number, ten percent are addicts and/or alcoholics (approximately 2 million). Without access to a program of recovery, this very large group of people are again, left to die or fend for themselves.
Our primary purpose is to carry the message of recovery to the addict who still suffers. One way we do this is by holding meetings in hospitals and institutions for people who are not able to attend outside meetings. Institutions served may include, but not be limited to, correctional facilities, sanitariums, detox units, juvenile detention centers, half-way houses and shelters, either governmental or private.
Honesty, open-mindedness and willingness are three spiritual principles at the foundation of our recovery. Without them, a solution cannot be reached. They are not items on a list to be checked off, one at a time. Rather, they become characteristics of our new lease on life. As we become more open-minded, we also become more willing. As our willingness increases, so does our honesty.
Each time we make the effort to have open minds, try something new and end up enjoying ourselves, we add to our recovery foundation. As we grow more spiritually fit, we may find we can participate in activities we chose to forego when we first got sober. Before long, it becomes easy to have fun in recovery. Instead of feeling like we are missing out on having a good time, we become grateful for the new opportunities we have to celebrate being happy, joyous and free.
A Twelfth-Step call is one way for members of Cocaine Anonymous to be of service to others. We should not hesitate to go anywhere to be helpful, while keeping in mind the hopelessness and despair of active addiction. Provided we are spiritually fit, we can offer help to a still-suffering addict at any place and at any time.
For many of us, it was only a matter of weeks of using before our whole world came crashing down upon us; for some it came sooner, for some it came later. Some of us used other drugs or alcohol for years without ever experiencing the loss that we experienced with crack cocaine.
While the name “Cocaine Anonymous” may sound drug-specific, we wish to assure you that our program is not. Many of our members did a lot of cocaine; others used only a little, and some never even tried coke. Whether we focused on a specific mind-altering substance or used whatever we could get our hands on, we had one thing in common: eventually we all reached a point where we could not stop.
C.A. Lifeline’s primary purpose is to help the newcomer addict’s transition from treatment to the rooms of Cocaine Anonymous. We do this by providing a temporary contact to a C.A. member in the newcomer’s local area.
When we first made it to a meeting of Cocaine Anonymous, we were offered a helping hand. Those who reached out didn’t care if we were male, female, rich, poor, what drugs we used, what religion we were, or what color our skin was. The fact that some of us were LGBTQ+ was not an obstacle; those carrying the message of recovery to us were far more focused on our need for sobriety than our sexual orientation. Their unconditional love and acceptance made us feel comfortable and welcomed.
