Salt Lake City

This week I am in Salt Lake City for a conference on addiction. I really had no idea what it was about when I signed up to come (still not sure I totally understand), but it's been a decent experience so far.

Regarding SLC, it's a beautiful city--nice weather, beautiful scenery, nice people. It's like Denver without all the hippies and commercialism. Even though I haven't ventured out into the city much, I feel like it's one of my favorite American cities that I've visited. The most wonderful thing is that it's been 70 degrees, when it was approaching 100 back in Arkansas.

Regarding the conference, there's apparently all sorts of people that are here--not only doctors, but pharmacists, nurses, students, and just everyday people who wanted to learn more about addiction. Most of the courses that I attend are geared towards docs--detoxing, diagnosis, coding--the stuff that docs need in order to deal with addiction clinically. But also there are presentations about AA--the nature of meetings, sponsors, the text, etc.

I can tell you that it's among the most hilarious things that I've seen to watch these really smart, inquisitive docs asking the simplest of questions about AA. "What if it doesn't work?", "who pays for it?", "which meetings are the best?". In fairness, I guess that no one knows this stuff until they experience it. But they could probably ask a thousand really good questions and not understand it. At moments like that I am grateful to be an addict. I'm grateful to know how 12 step programs work, and I'm grateful to know that some medical problems CANNOT BE SOLVED WITH A PRESCRIPTION PAD.

I think that some doctors are skeptical about AA because it's not well-regulated and difficult to characterize. But there are so many variables that contribute to and complicate addiction, that I think it's exactly the type of program that is necessary: one that provides support, education, mentorship, and a place to go without using. I should be kind to these doctors, because I'm glad that they care enough about addiction to want to learn more about it. And I'm grateful that many of the lessons I've learned are not in vain.