[Magdalen] More Clergy DWI

[Lynn Ronkainen]

Jim G - I did not realize that your stake in this conversation was based on 
court ordered , or otherwise  mandated AA.  I have no experience with that 
and so my remarks on 12 step groups are based solely on 'the program' 
helping people who want to be there and their experiences, sometimes 
successful, sometimes not.

*Any* court ordered recovery program is only as effective as the person's 
desire to change their behavior, IMO. And that goes from mandated 'programs' 
to prison.

Lynn

My email has changed to: houstonKLR at gmail.com

website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a 
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me." 
attributed to Erma Bombeck

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Jim Guthrie" <jguthrie at pipeline.com>
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2015 5:43 AM
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] More Clergy DWI

>> If something *works* for one person in 1,000, it is a success for that 1.
>
> Not if the other 999 have been "sentenced" to AA and go out and get drunk 
> and it results in fatalities. Or even one . . .
>
> Courts need to supervise, and professionals need to be assigned. I would 
> say that AA is probably good for people who join voluntarily and without 
> criminally-related matters due to their alcohol addiction, but it may well 
> be an utter disaster for those assigned to it from the court system.
>
> I also suspect that given America's reliance on the automobile, judges 
> tend to be lenient in DWI cases, where they wouldn’t think twice about a 
> long prison sentence v an NA group for illegal drug use.
>
> Cheers,
> Jim
>