Crystal Meth Anonymous - History and Demographics

History and Demographics

CMA was founded on September 16, 1994 in West Hollywood, California. The first group held its first meeting at the West Hollywood Alcohol and Drug Center, then located on Santa Monica Blvd. CMA now has a presence in over 100 metropolitan areas of the United States, as well as parts of Canada, and Australia. The first CMA World Service Conference was held in Park City, Utah from October 17–19, 2008. At that convention, the CMA Charter was adopted. While many members use Alcoholic's Anonymous' "Big Book" as a guide for their program, others use the "Basic Text" of Narcotics Anonymous or that of other 12-step fellowships. At the first General Service Conference, the delegates unanimously adopted the following statement; "The Fellowship of Crystal Meth Anonymous works a Twelve Step program of recovery. We have not felt the need to elaborate in great detail a specific CMA approach to the Twelve Steps: too many other excellent outlines already exist for following these spiritual principles. But our experience has shown that without the Steps we could not stay sober.

In 2002, the United States Department of Health and Human Services estimated 12 million people, age 12 and over, had used methamphetamine—600,000 of which were estimated to be current users—with a growth rate of approximately 300,000 new users per year. In 2005, a Los Angeles clinic estimated that one out of three gay or bisexual HIV-positive men admitted to using methamphetamine. Methamphetamine may lower inhibitions, increasing the likelihood of engaging in unprotected sex and sharing needles. In large metropolitan areas, such as Atlanta, Chicago, Miami and Washington, DC, many CMA groups are designated as "gay/lesbian" reflecting the use of methamphetamine in urban gay communities.