Chemically Dependent Anonymous
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Chemically Dependent Anonymous
Chemically Dependent Anonymous is a Twelve Step fellowship of men and women whose primary purpose is to stay clean and sober and to help others achieve recovery from chemical dependence.
About the Fellowship
The Fellowship of Chemically Dependent Anonymous deals entirely with the disease of addiction. The individuals in Chemically Dependent Anonymous (CDA) make no distinctions in the recovery process based on any particular substance. In CDA, they believe that the addictive-compulsive usage of chemicals is the core of their disease and that the use of any mood-altering chemical will result in relapse.
CDA is not affiliated with any political, religious, or commercial organizations or institutions. The primary purpose of CDA as a whole is to remain clean and to help others in a similar situation gain recovery. By sharing experience, strength, and hope with each other, the members of CDA solve their common problem and help others to recover from chemical dependence which has made their lives unmanageable.
Why CDA is Different than AA or NA
One might well ask why start an organization like Chemically Dependent Anonymous when Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) already exist? While both 12-step Fellowships do marvelous work and are effective for countless members, there is today a new species of addict – one that shows no preference for any single drug of choice.
True, there will always be those who gravitate toward a single drug, say alcohol or cocaine. But young people, in particular, those who are currently seeking help to overcome addiction, have pretty much gone through the gamut of available drugs. That’s partly driven by economic hardship, part by drug availability. In other words, they’ve become addicted to using chemical substances of varying types. If it’s available and they can afford it, they’ll get high using it.
As a result, ours is a society filled with people suffering from multiple addictions. If a person recognizes and accepts that they are dependent on chemical substances, that it doesn’t matter which substance it is, but that it is the recovery process that works and is the most important part of a self-help program, then they understand the basis of what Chemically Dependent Anonymous is and is ready to accept what the program can offer.
CDA is concerned about substance abuse and, in its program, about what to do about it. CDA keeps it simple and believes their concept works.
Who Can Join
Anyone who is addicted to chemical substances and is honestly looking for help through the Fellowship is welcome to join Chemically Dependent Anonymous.
The only requirement for membership in Chemically Dependent Anonymous is the desire to abstain from all chemicals, including all street-type drugs, alcohol, and unnecessary medication. There are no dues or fees for membership. CDA is self-supporting through voluntary contributions. All meetings are open ones. CDA neither endorse nor oppose any causes, and does not wish to engage in controversies of any type.
CDA does rule out participation by individuals with the following addictions: gambling, sex offenders, overeaters, and other strictly behavioral-problem types.
History of Chemically Dependent Anonymous
The Fellowship of Chemically Dependent Anonymous was created to fill a perceived need of some younger members of Alcoholics Anonymous in the Annapolis, Maryland area in the last decade. The founders of CDA, in the period of 1976 to 1980, were people in their late 20s who had basically bottomed out on alcohol. They had also extensively used other drugs, but since alcohol was part of their late stage of addiction, they had naturally turned to Alcoholics Anonymous to get right-sided with recovery efforts.
One of these members attempted to start a Narcotics Anonymous group in the Annapolis area, but it didn’t succeed, in part because N.A. seemed to disqualify those addicted to other substances. The core group wanted to found yet another group, one that did recognize addiction to other substances and didn’t exclude individuals with multiple addictions, but that also was still based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The founders of CDA wanted to be a similarly anonymous organization that was based on the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. They also wanted a name that would be reflective of their inclusive acceptance of those with various addictions. The founders took their name from literature from the Hazeldon Foundation.
The first meeting was held in Annapolis, Maryland in August 1980 with twelve people in attendance. The group’s name and purpose was decided that night. Within six months, they were up to three meetings a week, and soon groups were meeting in church halls, basements and schools all over the Annapolis area.
Today, Chemically Dependent Anonymous has 450 members in Maryland and Delaware alone, in over 50 active groups. The Fellowship now extends from the Eastern shore of Maryland to Washington, D.C. and vicinity. CDA is currently in 14 states (Maryland, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Michigan, Oregon, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Utah, Florida, and Hawaii. There are also CDA groups in Canada, England, and forming in Dublin, Ireland.
How It Works
The basis of the Chemically Dependent Anonymous program is the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions developed by Alcoholics Anonymous.
The program of recovery has at its core meeting attendance and participation. In this, CDA is like most other 12-step fellowships.
Are You Chemically Dependent?
Ask yourself the following questions. Be honest, since you have nothing to gain by deluding yourself.
1. Has chemical usage caused you financial difficulties?
2. Have you lost time from work due to use of chemicals?
3. Do you use chemicals to build up your self-confidence?
4. Have you ever experienced a complete loss of memory while under the influence of chemicals?
5. Do you crave chemicals?
6. Has chemical usage caused you unhappiness in your home life?
7. Have you ever been treated by a doctor for chemical usage?
8. Do you ever feel remorseful after using chemical substances?
9. Do chemicals cause you to be careless of the welfare of your family?
10. Has chemical usage affected your reputation?
11. Do you find yourself associating with lower companions and an inferior environment while you are using?
12. Do you seek to escape from worries or troubles by getting high on chemical substances?
13. Has using chemical substances put your job, schooling or business in jeopardy?
14. Do you use chemicals daily?
15. Do you need to get loaded in order to have a good time?
16. Do you use chemicals when you are alone?
17. Have you ever been hospitalized or institutionalized due to the use of chemicals?
18. Are you ashamed of your behavior after using?
19. Does chemical usage decrease your ambition?
20. Do you feel bad when you are not using chemicals?
On the CDA website, it says that if you answered yes to three or more of these questions, the indication is that you have a problem with chemical substances.
CDA as an Alternative or in Conjunction With Other 12-Step Groups
CDA says that in using the CDA Fellowship as an alternative to, or in conjunction with the other anonymous groups dedicated to helping chemically addicted people, members of all of these programs, as well as those millions of people who still suffer, have a better chance for recovery.
Chemically Dependent Anonymous does not attempt to replace Alcoholics Anonymous for those who are also finding recovery there. Roughly 75 percent of CDA’s present members are active, too, in the program that was their source. Only 10 percent of CDA members have drug addiction problems that do not include alcohol. '
The 12 Steps of Chemically Dependent Anonymous
On the Chemically Dependent Anonymous website, the following message is posted: “If you want what we have and are willing to make the effort necessary for you to get it, then you are ready to take certain steps. Here are the steps we took which made our recovery possible.”
1. We admitted we were powerless over mood-changing and mind-altering chemicals, and that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His 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 other chemically dependent persons and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
One more point is covered in this section on the CDA website and that is that an attitude of indifference or intolerance towards spiritual principles is the one thing more than anything else that will defeat recovery. The Fellowship has no “musts,” but there are three things that seem indispensable: “honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness to try.”
The Twelve Traditions of Chemically Dependent Anonymous
1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon CDA unity.
2. For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority--a loving God as he may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3. The only requirement for CDA membership is a desire to abstain from all mood changing and mind altering chemicals; including all street type drugs, alcohol and unnecessary medications.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups of CDA as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose – to carry its message to the chemically dependent who still suffers.
6. A CDA group ought never endorse, finance or lend the CDA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every CDA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. CDA should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. CDA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. CDA has no opinion on outside issues; hence the CDA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, films and social media.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
Note that the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions of CDA have been adapted with permission from those developed by Alcoholics Anonymous. But that does not mean that Alcoholics Anonymous is affiliated with CDA. Alcoholics Anonymous is a program for recovery from alcoholism only.
--Suzannekane 17:53, 31 May 2011 (MDT)
