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Alex has repeatedly used the 5% statistic to show that AA is ineffective, but without more information about that number (or any number), it's practically meaningless. Without knowing what constituted success in that study, or who was in the sample group, or the other variables that went into it, you are (ironically) just accepting it on faith. (The line about lies, damn lies and statistics comes to mind here)
There are many people I love, on this board and off, who have gone through AA and gotten better, and just looking at the Wikipedia page for AA just now revealed several studies that demonstrated AA's effectiveness. Until I can determine why/whether the figure cited above is so accurate, then I give at least as much weight to these other studies and our anecdotal evidence.
Besides, even if AA only represents a path to sobriety for those who have already chosen to get there, that makes it much more than a fraud, and I am grateful for it in any case.
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