Conference on Alcoholism

On April 19th, a one-day conference on "Alcoholism, Prevention & Cure" was held in Lansing, Michigan, at Michigan State College. It was sponsored by the Michigan Temperance Foundation (!) and Yale University School of Alcoholic Studies, and the last speech of the day was on Alcoholics Anonymous. The speaker was a doctor from Detroit, a member of the Detroit group. We are told he did a swell job, and that the conference was followed by an A.A. banquet, at which some 75 A.A.s and their wives, from 8 different Michigan towns, AND Chicago, were present. That, of course turned into a regular A.A. meeting. These state-wide get-togethers seem to be gathering in frequency. The Public Health Commissioner of the State of Michigan addressed himself particularly to the A.A.'s present, and we think one remark of his is worth quoting: "You're listening here to doctors, psychiatrists, sociologists and educators. . .but don't pay too much attention to them! You people in A.A. are doing a fine job in coping with this problem directly. Keep on doing it in your own way!"