# Can I go to A.A. if I'm still drinking?

**In short:**
- Yes, as A.A.'s own literature describes it. Tradition Three, in its short form (by 1950), asks for a desire to stop drinking, not for having stopped (p. 562). The 1946 Long Form says A.A. "may refuse none who wish to recover" (p. 563).
- Bill W. wrote in 1946 that under the groups' old membership rules most of the early members would have been thrown out, for reasons that included that they "slipped too much." A member who keeps coming to meetings drunk "may be led outside," but in most groups he can come back the next day if sober, and "He is a member as long as he says he is." (P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?", 1946).
- The 1939 text was written to reach people who were still drinking. Chapter 7 is a guide to approaching them (pp. 89–96).
- The texts set no rule about how long you must be sober to attend. Today's group pamphlet leaves sobriety minimums for speakers and officers to each group (P-16, 2018).

## What Tradition Three asks

The short form: "The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking." (p. 562). The 1939 Foreword said "an honest desire to stop drinking" (p. xiv). Neither says a person must already have stopped.

The Long Form puts it more widely: "Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism." (p. 563). Hence A.A. "may refuse none who wish to recover" (p. 563). See *What is the only requirement for A.A. membership?*

## What Bill W. wrote in 1946

Bill's essay on membership describes what happened when groups made membership rules. If all the groups' membership rules had been enforced at once, about nine-tenths of the oldest and best members "could never have got by!" (P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?", 1946). Most of the early members would have been thrown out, among other reasons "because they slipped too much" (same essay).

His description of A.A.'s practice by 1946:
- A newcomer who "commences to do anything at all about his problem" is considered a member (P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?", 1946). In most groups he needn't even admit he is an alcoholic.
- Some groups still had membership rules. "If a member persists in coming to meetings drunk he may be led outside; we may ask someone to take him away." (P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?", 1946). But in most groups he can come back next day, if sober.
- "Though he may be thrown out of a club, nobody thinks of throwing him out of A.A." (P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?", 1946).

So the 1946 picture, which Bill says was "not yet unanimous" (same essay) but was the main current, is that a group may deal with someone who is drunk at a meeting, but his membership doesn't end. See *Can anyone be thrown out of A.A.?*

## What the 1939 text says about drinkers

The Big Book's way of carrying the message starts with people who are still drinking:
- Find drinkers who want to recover (p. 89). If a man doesn't want to stop, don't waste time persuading him (p. 90).
- "Don't deal with him when he is very drunk, unless he is ugly and the family needs your help." (p. 90). Wait for the end of the spree, or a lucid interval (p. 90). Call on him "while he is still jittery" (p. 91).
- Chapter 11's first weekly meeting, in the western city a later footnote identifies as Akron (p. 156), was set apart as "a time and place where new people might bring their problems" (p. 160).

The book is also plain that some people drink again after starting. Chapter 3 says the many remedies members tried brought, at best, "brief recovery, followed always by a still worse relapse" (p. 31). Chapter 8 tells a wife whose husband comes home drunk after a fair start that it is "infinitely better that he have no relapse at all," but that a relapse "is by no means a bad thing in some cases" if he really wants to stop (p. 120). The Foreword to the Second Edition (1955) reports that of those who came to A.A. and really tried, 25% "sobered up after some relapses" (p. xx).

## Later (2018)

*The A.A. Group* (P-16) says closed meetings are for A.A. members or for those who have a drinking problem and "have a desire to stop drinking" (P-16, 2018); open meetings are open to anyone interested. It lists "What should the group do about members who return to drinking?" (P-16, 2018) among common group problems and gives no rule, only the group conscience and the Traditions. Each group decides any minimum sobriety for its speakers and its officers (P-16, 2018).

## What the texts don't say

None of these texts says a person has to arrive sober, or has to have stopped drinking for any length of time, to attend an A.A. meeting or to be a member. They don't promise that a group will put up with any behavior either: the 1946 essay expects a drunk who disrupts meetings to be led outside, for the day.

## Read it yourself
- Appendix I, "The A.A. Tradition" (pp. 561–566): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_appendicei.pdf
- Foreword to the First Edition (pp. xiii–xiv): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_forewordfirstedition.pdf
- Chapter 7, "Working With Others" (pp. 89–103): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt7.pdf
- P-17, *A.A. Tradition — How It Developed*: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/assets/p-17_AATraditions.pdf
- P-16, *The A.A. Group*: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/p-16_0723.pdf
- Related: *Can anyone be thrown out of A.A.?* · *What is the only requirement for A.A. membership?* · *How do I know if I'm an alcoholic?*

## Sources
| Source | Pages | First published |
|---|---|---|
| *Alcoholics Anonymous*, Foreword to the First Edition; Chapters 3, 7, 8, 11 | xiv, 31, 89–91, 120, 160 | 1939 |
| *Alcoholics Anonymous*, Appendix I, Tradition Three (short and Long Form) | 562–563 | Long Form 1946; short form by 1950 |
| *Alcoholics Anonymous*, Foreword to the Second Edition | xx | 1955 |
| P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?" | — | 1946 |
| P-16, *The A.A. Group* | 13, 14, 19, 31 | 2018 |

Big Book page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001).

*Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book and P-16 are © A.A. World Services, Inc.; the P-17 articles are © AA Grapevine, Inc.*