Tradition One: Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon MA unity.
- Does our group put the interests of any individual above the welfare of the group or of MA as a whole?
- Does our group prioritize “MA unity?” How?
- What does MA Unity mean to our group/meeting? How has our group been able to be autonomous while still prioritizing our common welfare and MA unity?
- Does our group/meeting do anything that could jeopardize “MA unity” and “our common welfare?”
- How does our personal recovery benefit from MA unity?
Tradition Two: For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority, a loving God whose expression may come through in our group conscience. Our leaders are but Trusted Servants; they do not govern.
- Does our group do anything that misrepresents the conscience of the majority of the group?
- Do our leaders govern? Is there a healthy rotation of service?
Tradition Three: The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using marijuana.
- Does our group exclude anyone with a “desire to stop using marijuana” from attending the group, either expressly or implicitly? Do we make all feel welcome?
- Closed meetings for women, men, POC, LGBTQIIA+ members or members who share other characteristics are consistent with MA’s Traditions, provided all members who share those characteristics with a desire to stop using marijuana are allowed to attend.
- Does our group have cliques that may make members feel less welcome than others?
- Do we allow cross-talk that could make some members feel left out if their share is not referred to like others, and make them feel less welcome than others?
- Meetings are autonomous to permit, limit, or prohibit cross talk but it’s important to understand the reasons the group has decided to allow or prohibit or otherwise limit cross-talk and the effects that may have on members and the group unity.
Tradition Four: Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or MA as a whole.
- Does our group do anything that does not conform to MA principles and affects other groups or MA as a whole?
- How does our group balance Fourth Tradition autonomy with First Tradition’s emphasis on “MA unity?”
- Does our group adhere to MA’s Intellectual Property policies that affect MA as a whole? See SM Ver. 8.1, Ch 14, pg. 47 for MA’s IP Policies or email [email protected].
Tradition Five: Each group has but one primary purpose, to carry its message to the marijuana addict who still suffers.
- Does our group do anything that conflicts with our carrying the MA message to marijuana addicts who want a way out from their marijuana problem?
- How effectively does our group carry the message?
- Are we carrying the message to a wide-range of addicts from our community, or do we only seem to attract certain types of people?
Tradition Six: MA groups ought never endorse, finance, or lend the MA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose
- Does anything we do affiliate, endorse or bind the group, actual or implied, to any related facility or outside enterprise?
- Does our group have a website or social media site that uses the MA logo in conjunction with other trademarks or organizations names or logos?
- Do we have a group or meeting website with ads that could be considered an implied affiliation or endorsement?
Tradition Seven: Every MA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
- How is the group fulfilling its responsibility to the Seventh Tradition?
- What does the group use Seventh Tradition funds for?
- Does the group receive donations from anyone other than an MA member?
- Does the group make donations to the District or Region? World Services?
- Does our group pay for all of its own expenses/is our group fully self-supporting? Or does the district pay some expenses, e.g. rent or Zoom fees?
Tradition Eight: Marijuana Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ Special Workers
- Are there any fees besides meeting expenses being charged for any “12 Step” work, i.e., for fellowship, sponsoring, step work, counseling?
Tradition Nine: MA, as such, ought never be organized, but we may create Service Boards or Committees directly responsible to those they serve.
- Is there a governing individual or exclusive group authority that dictates organization to our group?
- Do we rotate service commitments, or is one individual or a small group the “exclusive” or final group authority that dictates how our meeting/group is organized, such as about our format, our service structure, etc.?
- Is our group “so and so’s” meeting, such that one individual takes exclusive ownership over the group and how it’s structured, i.e. format, service structure etc.
Tradition Ten: Marijuana Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the MA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
- Does our group do anything that publicly states an opinion or takes sides on any issues or controversy that are outside of MA?
- Do we provide members advice on issues such as detox, CHS, mental health or other medical issues, or do we simply share our own experience, strength and hope on these topics?
- Does our meeting/group have and express an opinion on issues like CBD or do we again only share each of our own experiences on such matters?
- Have members of our group misused the “outside issues” language from the 10th Tradition to try and silence members from speaking about their own personal experiences and how their recovery has been effected (e.g. race, gender, sexuality, etc.)? Or is it only used to limit taking sides publicly as a group on outside issues.
- Members are free to share their own personal experiences, Trad. 10 prohibits only the group/meeting from publicly expressing an opinion on such outside issues. Members are free to share their experiences on these issues (e.g. race, sexuality, gender, CBD, detox, CHS, mental health, etc.) so long as it remains limited to their own experiences and how those issues relate to their recovery.
See MA12.org/safety pg.8-10 for more on Tradition 10 “outside issues,” why closed meetings for members who share characteristics do not violate any Traditions, and why Trad 10 should not be used to silence members from sharing about what might be considered “outside issues” as they relate to their recovery.
Tradition Eleven: Our public relations policy is based upon attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, TV, film, and other public media. We need guard with special care the anonymity of all fellow MA members.
- At the general public level, does the group publicize any individual MA member’s name or picture as a self-appointed representative of MA?
- Do we protect members’ anonymity? How so?
- Is the phone list used solely for fellowship and recovery-related purposes, and not misused to harass, flirt, seek romantic or sexual relationships, or advertise a personal product or service to members?
- Does our phone list (or the announcement made with it) contain language about the proper use of the phone list? See MA12.org/meetingformats for suggested phone list language.
Tradition Twelve: Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
- Does our group give personal distinction to any MA member either among fellow addicts, or the general public, that puts their opinions above the conscience of the group or MA as a whole?
- Does our group seek to place “principles before personalities” particularly during business meetings or meetings such as this one which could become heated without this guiding principle? Or does the loudest voice dominate meetings and discussions particularly business group conscience meetings?
- Why does it mean to you when Tradition 12 states that anonymity is the “spiritual foundation” of all MA traditions? What about it is “spiritual” and why is it considered the “spiritual foundation” of all the other Traditions?