Dear Grapevine

THE writer of "No Monopoly" (May 2010) is correct on both counts: there are other ways to get sober, and some people who get sober in AA leave. But the people who come to us, want us to show them how we did it. Whether the others stay sober or are happy, we never know. We only see the ones who make it back, invariably saying that they stopped going to meetings. To say that being enthusiastic about AA, when we tell people to go to as many meetings as possible, is nothing but "sound bites" shows a lack of understanding of how the program works.