12 Steps group therapy

I went to the Narcotics anonymous meeting on October 5 at 7:00 pm, before to go I called in the morning to figure out if it is an open or close meeting and if I can assist as a student; they told me is an open meeting and I was more than welcome to go. This group in particular is just for Spanish speaking people and it is located in St Dominic’s Catholic Church room number 2 at 5849 NW 7 St MiamiFl. They do the meetings Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM and weekends they get together in one of the members of the group house.
They were 18 people, 5 women and 13 men. Most of the people in the group were ages 35 to 45; they were 2 young males’ ages 18 to 23 and 3 adult males’ were in the ages 55 and 65. By their accent I could say most of the people in the group wereCuban and Puerto Rican, 1 man from Venezuela and 1 man from Peru. They just mentioned crack cocaine in relation with drugs.
The room was a small place, disorganized and it was not clean. I think they do not have rules related with the organization and cleaning of the space. Half of the group was eating chips, drinking soda and 95% had a gum. The leader’s table was full with fruits, chips, books andsodas. They had a board behind the leader’s table and a small furniture with all the documents related with Narcotics anonymous (narcotics anonymous in Miami-Dade County Florida, for the new comer, live the program, just for today, recovery and relapse, staying clean, an addict’s experience with acceptance, faith and commitment and who, what how and why) next to the leader.
The type of meetingwas a 12 step group. The leader picked a guy to explain the step 6 “we were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.” The way the man explained were clear, he used understandable examples of his daily basis and how he does to apply this step in his life. While he was talking half of the group felt identified with the examples he used. He told the group how difficult was forhim in the past to control him but now that he is clean; it has been easy for him to stop himself of reacting aggressive to situations that he does not like.
The leader was a Cuban guy; I think he was like 48 years old. When I first got to the room, I talked to him and I explained that I was a student from Carlos Albizu University. He told me, take a sit and welcome to the group. The leaderlooks really healthy and happy. He started the group saying to everybody “I am ----- and I am an addict” all the members in the group at the same time said hi to him. His voice were not too clear maybe because his accent or he did not make an effort to talk loud or tell the group to stay quite while others are talking. Also he said that the people who need to sing the paper for the court do not forgetto see him at the end of the meeting.
Something in particular really caught my attention, one of the youngest male in the group came 10 minutes late to the meeting with the court paper in his hand, he left the paper in the table and took a sit; he sit next to me. He was high and just smelled marijuana. Apparently he smoked before the meeting. Some people who go to the meetings of narcotics oralcoholic anonymous is just because is a requirement for the court and not because they want to have a rehabilitation process. All the time he was texting and looking the watch.
Before they began talking about the step for that day, they read a couple of lectures; pray and thank to God for everything they have. I could not understand when they were reading the first lectures because some membersof the group were talking and they did not read really good or read too fast. Also they know those lectures by memory because they read it at the beginning of each meeting. I introduced myself after the lectures because the leader asked who is new today and everybody looked at me. I told the group I was a student and I was there because it was a project for one of my classes, I also told them I...