Comment by c3534l

Interesting. I was never a fan of AA and I was very critical in the lack of science and rigor in addiction treatment, and actually for mental health in general. I always felt there were better treatments, but CBT-based group therapy / 12-step alternatives are pretty rare. All you really need to start a chapter of AA is to not have one nearby and a place to host it. It's comforting that AA at least doesn't make things worse, on average, even if its not amazing. I'm still not comfortable with the fact that the government will require people to attend what is essentially a religious service as criminal punishment, and there are certain aspects of AA that they should probably at least de-emphasize.