Twelve Traditions

The Twelve Traditions of twelve-step programs provide guidelines for relationships between the twelve-step groups, members, other groups, the global fellowship, and society at large. Questions of finance, public relations, donations, and purpose are addressed in the Traditions. They were originally written by Bill Wilson after the founding of the first twelve-step group, Alcoholics Anonymous.

Several of the tenets of what was to become AA's Twelve Traditions were first expressed in the Foreword to the First Edition of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1939. By 1944 the number of AA groups had grown along with the number of letters being sent to the AA headquarters in New York asking how to handle disputes caused by issues like publicity, religion, and finances. By 1946 AA cofounder Bill Wilson had more clearly formulated the basic ideas for the Twelve Traditions directly from such correspondence with groups (via the group conscience method), setting guidelines on how groups and members should interact with each other, the public, and AA as a whole. The Traditions were first published in the April 1946 AA Grapevine under the title Twelve Points to Assure Our Future and were formally adopted at AA's First International Convention in 1950. Wilson's book on the subject, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, was published in April, 1953.

Our A.A. experience has taught us that:

Other twelve-step programs make small changes to the original Twelve Traditions used in Alcoholics Anonymous and offer interpretations specific to their programs. The Twelve Traditions of Narcotics Anonymous (NA), the second largest twelve-step program, are as stated in the above (short form only) with all instances of AA replaced with NA, the word alcoholic replaced with the word addict, and the word drinking replaced with the word using. NA published their It Works: How and Why as its own study of the Twelve Traditions.

Marijuana Anonymous has made similar changes to adapt the traditions to marijuana use, and has gone a step further by eliminating male pronouns in reference to God. This parallels the wording of MA's Twelve Steps. The MA Steps and Traditions are listed and expanded upon in MA's text, Life With Hope.

...
Wikipedia