British Columbia's Alcoholics Anonymous, AA Meetings BC

Alcoholism is a serious problem in British Columbia. Everyone knows that it affects the person who is addicted to the alcohol and that it also hurts the people who love the addict. What the general population often fails to consider is the ripple effect the alcohol addiction has on the entire province of British Columbia. The higher the number of people who are addicted to alcohol gets the more drunk driving accidents there are going to be, the unemployment rate will increase, as will the number of homeless. Because many people who are addicted to alcohol are unable to maintain steady employment, the amount of petty crime that the province experiences also increases.

In addition to the effects that the alcoholism has on the province of British Columbia, alcoholics put a huge toll on the federal budget as well. A long term addiction to alcohol usually has a pretty devastating effect on a person's health, which means that they require more health care than someone who only drinks moderately or who doesn't drink at all.

Programs like the Alcoholics Anonymous program in British Columbia are going a long way towards making sure that the number of addicts doesn't get out of control. The program uses a twelve step plan to help an addict become a recovering addict. Although there is a 64% failure rate, that means more than thirty percent are able to overcome their addiction to alcohol and become productive members of British Columbia's society. Alcoholics Anonymous considers each success story a huge victory.

Many of the government run alcohol rehabilitation programs in British Columbia encourage the addicts they are counseling to plan on becoming involved with the Alcoholics Anonymous program once the program has ended. The reason for this is simple. Even when you add the amount of time a person spends in both a short term residential program and an outpatient program, they have only received about 120 days of counseling. This really isn't enough counseling to overcome long term alcohol abuse. By having a support system like the Alcoholics Anonymous the person dramatically increases their chances of staying sober.

The great thing about the Alcoholics Anonymous program is that it is an international program. Just because a person might not be in British Columbia when they suddenly feel the need for a drink doesn't mean that they are on their own. All they have to do is visit the areas AA website and they will have immediate access to all the meetings in the area. They can go to any one of these meetings. Some people find that the distraction of the meeting is sometimes the only thing they need to quench the urge to drink.

The Alcoholics Anonymous program in British Columbia and the rest of the world has a long history of success; however it can only work if the addict is committed to kicking their habit. If a person is only going through the motions they will not get anything out of the program.