SMART Recovery Australia featured prominently in a recent article ‘It’s a dry argument: abstinence versus management in addictions’, by Ross Fitzgerald, appearing in The Australian newspaper and online on the 27th December 2014.
The story covered several welcomed and necessary topics such as the need for greater Government funding for addiction treatment, the abstinence versus management argument, and the importance of Australians being aware of services such as ours, which can help.
However, it is also important that Australians have the correct information, and that those seeking help are properly informed. For this reason we felt it is important to respond to some incorrect assertions made in the article. In seeking to expose differences between SMART Recovery Australia and Alcoholics Anonymous, the author made some factual errors relating both to our philosophy and practice.
The following is the article in full, accompanied by our annotations in red, which clarify or correct any inaccuracies published about SMART Recovery.