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Meeting Level Service

The meeting or group is the primary structure in MA. A meeting or group consists of two or more marijuana addicts who meet on a regular basis. Each meeting is autonomous; however, compliance with each of the Twelve Traditions is vital for all groups. 

Simple Ways to Be of Service

  • Attend meetings and share
  • Read the meeting readings such as How It Works, The Twelve Questions and others 
  • Read the meeting script and/or start the shares
  • Share your sobriety milestones and how you did it
  • When attending in-person, help set up / clean up, make the coffee, or bring the snacks
  • Add to the online recovery environment, keep your camera on during the meeting 
  • Participate in Fellowship:
    • Offer your phone number as an accountability buddy
    • Arrive before & stay after meetings
    • Attend MA events & outings
    • Share with others how you did it

Meeting Level Positions

Throughout MA meetings and groups there are different opportunities, service structures, position names, and sobriety requirements. 

Examples of Meeting Roles

  • Greeter 
  • Timekeeper
  • Celebration Coordinator (Chips)
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Literature Person
  • Spiritual Bouncer
  • Tech Host
  • and more!

An important concept for all meetings is the rotation of service; to turn over service commitments by allowing other members to continue in those roles. Service Sponsorship is vital as well; to offer support and guidance to the next member as they take on the responsibilities of their new service commitment.

Service positions are often determined during the meeting’s business meeting through an informed group conscience where the meeting/group elects the service members. A “group conscience” is a vote that reflects the consensus of the group on any matter brought before the group. There are vast MA resources that can be used as guidance for hosting business meetings. 

It is strongly recommended to read the MA Service Manual. The purpose of the Service Manual is to explain the organization and function of the Service Structure of MA. The procedures, guidelines, and service structures have been created to best unify MA and pursue the goal of helping the marijuana addict.

If you feel prepared to start a new meeting, the only requirement is that you be an MA member in recovery. If you are very newly sober, starting a meeting can be a daunting proposition. Consider building up some sobriety time, experience in the program, and a fellowship of other members before you decide to start a meeting yourself. Learn more about creating an MA Meeting/Group.

Job Descriptions

Secretary/Chairperson — The group Secretary/Chairperson facilitates and directs the meeting. The person elected into this service position should have a strong knowledge of the 12 Steps and Traditions. It is also helpful for them to have a familiarity with this Service Manual and basic knowledge of the Parliamentary Procedure (See Appendix II).

Typical duties of the Secretary include:

  • Starting and ending the meeting on time
  • Ensuring all service commitments are filled
  • Chairing the monthly business meeting, or ensure a suitable chair is selected
    • Keeping meeting minute records
  • Providing time for MA announcements (including GSR and committee reports)
  • If part of a district, serving in the role of GSR in the event there is no GSR
  • Helping the MA World Services Meeting Finder directory team maintain accurate listings by communicating any updates or removal of meeting should it no longer be active

Treasurer — The group Treasurer is responsible for handling all the money received via group contributions and as indicated in the Seventh Tradition, accepting money only from MA members. The person elected into this service position should be someone who is good at managing finances. 

Typical duties of the Treasurer include:

  • Collecting funds from Seventh Tradition contributions and literature sales from members of the group, ensuring funds are kept in a safe place
  • Paying expenses and approved reimbursements (e.g rent for the meeting space or virtual meeting platform, refreshments, supplies, chips, and literature)
  • Keeping a detailed account of the group’s financial position
  • Maintaining a prudent reserve (typically three months worth of meeting expenses)
    • Recommending options for ways to utilize excess contributions in service of our primary purpose (Groups generally use the 75/25 plan as recommended by MA World Services, contributing 75% of excess funds to the local District/Region and 25% to MA World Services)

Refreshment — for in-person meetings, this officer is responsible for buying (or making) and bringing refreshments, like coffee or snacks, to the meeting, and keeping the costs for refreshments within reason. They may also bring cake to celebrate members’ sober birthdays/anniversaries, working together with the Milestone Chips person. 

Celebration Coordinator ‒ The birthday/anniversary or sobriety milestone tokens/chips person typically hands out sobriety milestone tokens/chips at the meeting and replenishes the supply as needed. Some in-person meetings also provide a cake or other refreshment to celebrate sobriety milestones, and they may work together with the Refreshments person to coordinate bringing cake for sober birthdays. Current chip/token manufacturers with licensing agreements with MA are listed at MA12.org/tokens. These also include links to “virtual milestone chip” images that can be shared in virtual meetings. If a meeting does not provide members with milestone chips, they can still share the above-resource for members who want to purchase their own milestone tokens.  

Greeter —  Greeters arrive early to welcome members, let them know that they are in the right place, and answer any questions. If an in-person meeting is difficult to locate, Greeters may stand somewhere visible to direct members to the meeting.

Timekeeper — The Timekeeper is responsible for reminding members during the sharing portion of the meeting when they have approximately 30 seconds or one minute left to share. This service position may have varying term lengths, for example it may be designated for just that day’s meeting or may be more long term.

Timekeeper – some meetings also designate a regular timekeeper to keep track of members’ time to share and any speakers’ time (and warnings as requested), while others request a different volunteer to be the timekeeper at the beginning of each meeting. Many meetings have shorter sobriety requirements for the timekeeper, such as 30 or 60 days sober, making this an ideal commitment (whether it changes weekly or for a longer term) for newer members.

Phone List ‒ the phone list person is responsible for maintaining the meeting’s phone list and announcing how to access it to members, by either sharing a link or making copies. The meeting may also determine that they should announce the proper (and improper) uses of the phone list for recovery purposes only, to ensure it is not misused in violation of the 12 Traditions, such as to engage in self-promotion or other endorsement, or used for romantic or other non-recovery purposes to make members feel unsafe. Sponsorship ‒ the sponsorship person helps inform the meeting’s members about what sponsorship entails, answers questions and helps with identifying available sponsors in their group/meeting (by asking for raised hands) and making other suggestions.