Alcoholics Anonymous for Poles living in Ireland

Greetings,
I know a Polish male who is an alcoholic and I am looking for support mechanisms for him in Ireland. Apart from AA (Alcoholics Anonymous), is there something perhaps in polish specifically geared toward Polish men?

Tell him to stop drinking.

aairlandia.com - this is a branch of Polish Alcoholics Anonymous in Ireland - but from my experience you can't help a person who doesn't realise they have a problem

AA is nonsense. The recidivism rate after months of super expensive rehab is way over 50% so a little pep talk once every so often from other ex-drunks has little chance of success. No, alcoholism is not a disease. If it is, then so jumping into a pool with two feet of water and ending up a paraplegic. It's stupidity. Or they would be working on the cure as they do for cancer. I called NIH and CDC. They don't.

Drinking is suicide in slow motion. Our concern should be only to minimize the collateral damage.

I was wrong. It's a lot worse. From:

theclearingnw.com/blog/6-reasons-drug-alcohol-rehab-success-rates-are-so-low

Plus, addiction recovery rates for popular 12 Step groups such as AA may be as low as 5-10%, according to Dr. Lance Dodes, the author of The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry.

I agree Rich, it is a weakness.

AA is a total joke. Ive seen too many guys go trough that 12 step program and wind up drinking with the other AA members. Ive told them dont start calling me when you get to that step where you have to reach out and apologize to everyone for all the stupid things you did while you were drunk.

I could go for a beer right now:) I dont need 50 of them, just 1 or 2 and Im good..burp!

We got so bamboozled into feeling sorry for the drunks and the addicts of all sorts that we have that 'oh, poor you' ready to pop out on a moment's notice after hearing about another stupid sob story. I have had it with all those celebrities who show up at the late night talk shows only because they just completed another rehab session and have been tree-week sober. There are millions of us who don't drink, don't snort and don't inject but somehow we are never invited for those touch feely, in-depth interviews.

What's next? A guest who didn't rape a woman in the last twelve months? As we have been told by the 'experts', sex is now an addiction and cannot be controlled without a team of professionals, which, of course, makes it yet another disease. Poor sex addicts.

Not me, I feel sorry for their families and friends that have had to suffer by being burdened by them.
If alcoholism only effected the drunk so be it.
Problem is that they are a drain to their family and society.

Membership in A.A. is free, and there are plenty of no-cost or low cost treatment centers available.

So are public parks. So what?
There is only one way to quit drinking. Quit drinking.
And, before you go to bed, say: I love you, my dear liver, just the way you are.
Problem solved.

Yep, I can go months or longer without a drink and do this quite often, even after I bartended most of the time when I was going to school.

Its called self -control and will power. Im sure having some kind of goal in life doesnt hurt.


You do pay a price, not monetarily. Ive heard they try and force born again christianity upon thee?

Me, too. If you are not addicted, that shouldn't a problem. It gets way more difficult though once you are hooked to a drug. Doesn't matter if it's meth, crack or booze. Simple will power will not help you because the addiction is far too strong. I've seen a few friends go through that ordeal.


Never heard of that before. You are not mixing that up with Narconon by any chance?

I used to work with this guy that used to drink in the morning, if he didn't his hands would start trembling. He was pretty bad and used to go to AA and tell me stories about all the screwed up people that attended. He said they wanted him to believe in a high power and pushed religion on him, but this guy was really messed up. I seen empty beer bottles in his shower! He starts drinking at 4;00 am every day. yikes!

Please don't take my keys when the party's over....

I drive better drunk, than you do sober

- Afroman


AA/NA is very cultish. It works for some people but yeah they push religion super hard. The people who get clean with AA go through a weird transformation where they're always talking about God, Jesus, and repeat the same phrases they hear in AA always to do with faith. Then again if the alternative is being so addicted and down the hole to where they're homeless jobless and every family and friend left them, I guess it's better to be like one of the dudes preaching on the side of the road or in times square about christianity and the end days.

Most the people I know who had alcohol problems gave it up on their own. In one case a dudes liver was so ****** his doc told him hed def die soon if he kept drinking. Another had kids and when their first was born they gave it all up right away.

Don't kid yourselves alcohol is one of the worst most destructive drugs for body mind and soul. It really messes up your body. You can put the fanciest suit on a drunk and you can still tell by their skin, their eyes etc that they're an alcoholic even if they're not drunk st the time

I wonder if that's the American AA. I know people who were in AA in the UK and weren't religious at all. I suppose it depends to some extent on the individuals who are running the particular group you go to.


It's not quite that simple. There are literally tens of millions of 'functioning' alcoholics around the world who hold down jobs and are outwardly successful. In Poland there are plenty of them in professions, white collar jobs etc consuming a bottle of vodka per day and considering themselves normal. Incidentally there are also heroin users who function quite well day to day in their jobs. I've personally known three , two in London, one in Dublin who were daily users and held down their jobs. One of the guys in London used to smoke heroin in the toilets at work, I kid you not.

Just ask Courtney Love!

More seriously, I've read that a rich person can do heroin pretty regularly without suffering too much, the drug itself isn't that harmful (kind of a preservative) it's the poor addict lifestyle (scrounging for money for the next hit, shooting up heroin cut with other stuff and using dirty needles etc) that kills poor addicts. And unless a person is marginalized economically to begin with it doesn't ruin them economically - one famous addict said a heroin addiction is like having a second stomach, you feed it regularly and it's okay you don't have the urge for more and more heroin. Cocaine, on the other hand, is like an open insatiable addiction, the more cocaine a person does the more they want to do. Cocaine users are the ones who squander fortunes...

Drunks kill more people than do the terrorists. On average, 16,000 people die in car accidents every year in the US. Alcohol is involved in half of them. Yet, we are so lovingly tolerant of them personally and in the courts. When I read about some a-hole with a dozen convictions, I wonder who is sick - the drunk or the rest of us. Say one DUI and kiss your DL forever and you will have all the apologists angry at you, not the drunks.

I read an article about a wealthy businessman in California who got a 9th dui and is noe going to prison for like 3 4 years.

ocregister.com/2017/02/17/how-this-orange-county-man-got-9-duis-in-less-than-six-years/

...and, upon release, will get a new and shiny driver's license so that he can become a productive member of society again.

That is true, although it doesn't have too much to do with being rich or poor. Some people survive decades of heroin addiction on the streets.


Probably, although I've never heard about religious indoctrination at A.A. before.

All it takes is one bad batch and with all the fentanyl that's being put into heroin it's like playing roulette. I've already lost 3 friends to heroin/painkiller addiction and probably way more from.high school and college that I haven't talked to since. It's an epidemic here. Just stick to the ganja.

Then again a good amount of addicts got clean through aa/NA or went on medicines like methadone to stop using. There's also a drug called ivogaine that has gotten a ton of people clean after only 1 or 2 uses but it's not FDA approved in the us and is an illegal drug. Pgarma can't make money on it so they don't want it to hecome available. Pharna hates cheap cures and wants them illegal but expensive treatments they lobby for like crazy

Switzerland and UK actually prescribe pure heroin to addicts.

I have a better idea how to stop heroin addiction: open free, all-you-can heroin bars.
Sorry, that's all the sympathy I can manage. They chose to be addicts so f*** them. I don't see safety nets under the bridges.

Back to the topic please

A lot of them became addicted because of pain pills their docs legally rxd to them, then suddenly cut them off. The medical establishment went from encouraging over prescribing for pain to suddenly cutting people off. A lot of people who reallt had pain and didn't abuse their pills ended up being cut off. A big chunk of those ended up going on heroin because they were still in prettt bad pain and couldn't get over withdrawals. Somrthing like 3/4 of heroin addicts became addicted that way. Some people have that addictive predisposition possibly genetic and ended up on heroin, others sucked it up and dealt with their pain. When I tore up my knee I was given a ton of Vicodin with like 3 refills for each script. Now you can't get refills on Vicodin

I do believe that chosing to be addicted is ultimately a weakness and willpower. I don't really see it as a disease I mean it wreaks your body like a bad disease would, but it's

AA does really work for some people so I can't knock it. I find it odd and strange but I've seen what happens with addictions esp as my generation seems to be extremely affected. Its even worse than the nam vets and hippies of the 60s and 70s or even the cocaine era in the 80s and 90s. There's way way more people addicted to drugs and alcohol than ever before. Its quite sad.

There's always rehab commercials on tv Now too. I never saw such ads when I was a kid or teenager. But now they run nonstop. And those places are extremely expensive. If someone can't afford it and needs to get advice on quitting AA is going to be a good convenient and free resource. They also offer a forum for families of alcoholics.

I may disagree with their strategies but even a 5 10% success rate for tens of millions if not hundreds for decades and decades is still a sh1t ton of people that aren't drinking anymore and getting their life on track. Its almost like an online forum like this one but worldwide and for drunkss.

Personally I think in most cases people deserve a second chance, but for rape, murder, child molestation etc **** no just off em. But I've found people who have a second chance at life are among the nicest most honest and kind hearted people because they wete the opposite. And that's severely lacking in our society.

Yes, Ive noticed this and they're not enjoyable to be around any longer. Its like they try and convert you, like a born again tries too, they seem to think that everyone has the same problem or it does seem like a cult now that you mention it. I would go to a medical treatment center before I would put my faith in the wackos from AA!


I totally agree, especially construction guys. I really dont see anything wrong if they want to have a couple of beers at lunch on a hot summer.

Im more against AA and what they do to peoples minds. Ive had calls from ppl out of the blue apologizing for sth they did to me over 5 years ago, its just plan silly and dont want to deal with them. That dude who drinks in the shower, he likes it and doesnt bother anyone either:)


A couple of guys have told me this and that why they quit going, said they were better off drinking instead.

It could be an American AA situation

Ya know, all this talk has got me thirsty and I have 2 Ice cold zywiec in the fridge. I guess, I wont be going to AA tonight! LOL

I heard that AA is where guys go for easy pickups. Some turn out to be real bad dudes with records.

They would have to be very hard up to deal with all that baggage, but then birds of a feather.....


Ever seen Breaking Bad when then joined a rehab group just to sell meth there?

Its not societies finest that attend these places, the people with money go to rehab clinics and Im sure its not cheap either.

I know for a fact they do.
These girls come to a meeting after hitting bottom and spill their guts out and in doing so make themselves vulnerable to these creepers.
Problem is these guys get them hooked again and bang them a few times which leads to disaster for the creeps with the vindictiveness of the wrath of a desperate woman on their backs because she tested dirty breaking her probation.

She then tells the police enough to have the creep (who most likely is on probation) arrested for a habitual offender which doubles his sentence while she gets off scot free because she turned state evidence against the creep and sometimes even takes down the creepers supplier too.

AA is like the road to hell, it was built on good intentions.