Once again, your response is imbued with neoliberal conceptions of personal responsibility and the myth that “rising above” oppression is a solo endeavour. Not sure how familiar you are with Foucault, but his idea of “responsibilism” is very relevant here.

The underlying assumption that sobriety is: a) attainable; and b) **desirable** is absolutely born of privilege. In tangible terms, someone with your background has access to a social safety net (both concrete and symbolic) that many of my people couldn’t begin to fathom. Beyond that, if one’s entire peer group was raised with addiction and in poverty, the idea that they’ll be safe in a room riddled with victim-blaming disease discourse is laughable. Even if they were, why would one be expected to want to be sober if they contend daily with multiple, intersecting forces of capitalism, patriarchy, colonialism, etc. As a history teacher, surely you can at least try to imagine why sobriety for some, given what they endure, would be an imminent death sentence?

I spent years in AA (“successful” but miserable); I have also done doctoral research on the disease model of addiction as a medical sociologist at The University of Oxford. In between, I have been to rehab four times, I have spent a cumulative total of over three years homeless, and as a drug user activist, I have watched most of my friends be murdered by state policy and the stigma it legitimizes. My impression of AA is not “dead wrong” – it is informed by life experiences that you have not had to have imagined. Be grateful for that, but don’t expect others to want or need the same things you do, sobriety included.