We Can Recover
Welcome to Cocaine Anonymous. We are all here for the same reason — our inability to stop using cocaine and all other mind-altering substances. The first step towards solving any problem is admitting that there is a problem.
The problem, as we see it, consists of an obsession of the mind and an
allergy of the body. The obsession is a continued and irresistible thought of cocaine and the next high. The allergy creates an absolute inability to stop using once we begin.
We wish to assure you that there is a solution and that recovery is possible. It begins with abstinence and continues with practicing the Twelve Steps of Recovery, one day at a time. Our program, the Twelve Steps of Cocaine Anonymous, is the means by which we move from the problem of drug addiction to the solution of recovery.
1. We admitted we were powerless over cocaine and all other mind-altering substances-that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. 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 results of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Cocaine Anonymous is a spiritual program, not a religious one. In CA we believe each individual can choose a Higher Power of his or her own. In short, a God of his or her own understanding.
No one comes into Cocaine Anonymous to find God. We came into these rooms to get rid of a terrifying drug habit. Look around this room. You are surrounded by people who came as a last resort. We came into these rooms emotionally, financially, and spiritually bankrupt. We have experienced all sorts of tragedies as a result of cocaine, drugs, and/or alcohol. We have lived many of the same horrors you have, yet today we are free from the misery, terror and pain of addiction.
Maybe some of us were worse off than you; maybe some of us didn’t hit as low a bottom as you. Still the fact remains that those of us who are recovering have come to believe that a Higher Power of our own understanding can restore us to sanity.
There is a solution; we can recover from addiction. One day at a time, it is possible to live a life filled with hope, faith, and courage.
