Welcome to Narcotics Anonymous
What is our message? The message is that an addict, any addict, can stop using drugs, lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live. Our message is hope and the promise is freedom.
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“When new members come to meetings, our sole interest is in their desire for freedom from active addiction and how we can be of help.”
It Works: How and Why, “Third Tradition”
Is NA for me?
This is a question every potential member must answer for themselves. Here are some recommended resources that may be helpful:
Need help for family or a friend?
NA meetings are run by and for addicts. If you’re looking for help for a loved one, you can contact Narcotics Anonymous near you.
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Never before have so many clean addicts, of their own choice and in free society, been able to meet where they please, to maintain their recovery in complete creative freedom.
Basic Text, “We Do Recover”
Recovery Quicklinks:
Service Quicklinks:
Narcotics Anonymous sprang from the Alcoholics Anonymous Program of the late 1940s, with meetings first emerging in the Los Angeles area of California, USA, in the early Fifties. The NA program started as a small US movement that has grown into one of the world’s oldest and largest organizations of its type.
Today, Narcotics Anonymous is well established throughout much of the Americas, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Newly formed groups and NA communities are now scattered throughout the Indian subcontinent, Africa, East Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Narcotics Anonymous books and information pamphlets are currently available in 49 languages.
Information About NA
Daily Meditations
Just for Today
September 01, 2024 |
Real values |
Page 255 |
“We become able to make wise and loving decisions based on principles and ideals that have real value in our lives.“ |
Basic Text, p. 105 |
Addiction gave us a certain set of values, principles we applied in our lives. “You pushed me” one of those values told us, “so I pushed back, hard.” “It’s mine” was another value generated by our disease. “Well, okay, maybe it wasn’t mine to start with, but I liked it, so I made it mine.” Those values were hardly values at all–more like rationalizations–and they certainly didn’t help us make wise and loving decisions. In fact, they served primarily to dig us deeper and deeper into the grave we’d already dug for ourselves. The Twelve Steps give us a strong dose of real values, the kind that help us live in harmony with ourselves and those around us. We place our faith not in ourselves, our families, or our communities, but in a Higher Power–and in doing so, we grow secure enough to be able to trust our communities, our families, and even ourselves. We learn to be honest, no matter what–and we learn to refrain from doing things we might want to hide. We learn to accept responsibility for our actions. “It’s mine” is replaced with a spirit of selflessness. These are the kind of values that help us become a responsible, productive part of the life around us. Rather than digging us deeper into a grave, these values restore us to the world of the living. |
Just for Today: I am grateful for the values I’ve developed. I am thankful for the ability they give me to make wise, loving decisions as a responsible, productive member of my community. |
A Spiritual Principle a Day
September 01, 2024 |
Interdependence Knows No Borders |
Page 253 |
“Just as we learned in early recovery that we need each other to stay clean, we come to believe that all of us, every NA meeting and group, are interdependent.“ |
It Works, Tradition One |
Interdependence may not be a word many of us use, but expressions of this principle in Narcotics Anonymous are very familiar. Our program is one of mutual aid, recognizing the therapeutic value of one addict helping another. As per Tradition One, our individual recovery is uplifted, enriched, secured by–and dependent upon–unity in purpose and a simple message of recovery. A worldwide network of meetings, groups, and service bodies are a part of the same whole. We need each other to stay clean and to carry our message using all the strategies we have to do so, such as H&I, helplines, public relations, creation of new literature, translations, and Fellowship development–all over the globe. Working this spiritual principle is, in large part, coming to the understanding and acknowledging that we are already practicing interdependence–by being a member of NA and participating in our recovery. We recognize that healthy relationships inside and outside NA aren’t unidirectional. They’re reciprocal, mutually beneficial. One prime example is that sponsors help sponsees, and sponsees help sponsors. The “come to believe” in the quotation above is a result of the broadening of our experience of recovery in NA. We start to better comprehend the role of service and the interconnectedness among our local meetings and beyond–as our group’s conscience combines with others through various layers of NA services. Interdependence knows no borders; it is the tie that binds us. It’s the ripple effect that empathy and participation have on our Fellowship. It’s the integrity of our movement to help addicts heal from the disease of addiction and to increase our connection to each other, to our surroundings, and to a life worth living. |
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I need others to practice interdependence, so I’ll connect with other addicts today. I’ll contribute to the recovery of others and participate in my own, recognizing that they are intricately linked. |
Do you need help with a drug problem?
“If you’re new to NA or planning to go to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting for the first time, it might be nice to know a little bit about what happens in our meetings. The information here is meant to give you an understanding of what we do when we come together to share recovery…”
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