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. 

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”

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.

Daily Meditations

Just for Today

November 09, 2024

The best-laid plans

Page 327

It is our actions that are important. We leave the results to our Higher Power.

Basic Text, p. 91

There’s an old saying we sometimes hear in our meetings: ‘If you want to make God laugh, make plans.’ When we hear this we usually laugh, too, but there’s a nervous edge to our laughter. We wonder if all of our carefully laid plans are doomed to fail. If we’re planning a big event–a wedding, a return to school, or perhaps a career change–we begin to wonder if our plans are the same as our Higher Power’s plans. We are capable of working ourselves into such a frenzy of worry over this question that we refuse to make any plans at all.

But the simple fact is that we really don’t know whether our Higher Power’s plans for our lives are carved in stone or not. Most of us have opinions about fate and destiny but, whether we believe in such theories or not, we still have a responsibility to live our lives and make plans for the future. If we refuse to accept responsibility for our lives, we’re still making plans–plans for a shallow, boring existence. What we make in recovery are plans, not results. We’ll never know whether the marriage, the education, or the new job is going to work out until we try it. We simply exercise our best judgment, check with our sponsor, pray, use all the information at hand, and make the most reasonable plans we can. For the rest, we trust in the loving care of the God of our understanding, knowing that we’ve acted responsibly.

Just for Today: I will make plans, but I will not plan the results. I will trust in my Higher Power’s loving care.

A Spiritual Principle a Day

November 09, 2024

Kindness and the First Tradition

Page 324

We learn to treat others with kindness and respect and do what we can to support each other and our group.

It Works, Tradition One

Few of us come into Narcotics Anonymous with effective social skills; we often acquire them by trial and error–mostly error. When we unintentionally mistreat others, we feel terrible and become teachable. The good news is that some of our best lessons come from our mistakes. We call our sponsors, tell on ourselves, figure out our part, and determine better ways to handle similar situations in the future.

We are at our best when kindness inspires our words and actions. When kindness is a priority, we’re more likely to be supportive, and that helps us grow as individuals and as NA groups. Naturally, it’s easier to be kind to those we love. But we don’t have to open our homes and share holiday dinners to honor our mutual stake in Narcotics Anonymous.

Being a home-group member challenges us to practice kindness with folks who aren’t in our immediate circle. Our investment in the well-being of NA is more important than our personal feelings about any specific member. We put the welfare of the group first and treat all of our fellows with respect regardless of baggage or bitterness. Friendship is not a prerequisite for kindness. Rather, we are kind in order to foster unity within the group and to support personal recovery–our own and that of our fellow members.

The simplest gesture of kindness can make a world of difference when we are feeling stuck. “I was isolating and thinking about using. I got a text from a fellow home-group member who asked if I was going to the meeting. It was just the push I needed,” a member shared.

Our actions have a profound effect on others as well as an impact on our self-image. By choosing kindness, we improve ourselves as we contribute to NA unity. Our actions make NA meetings safe and respectful places for personal growth. The way we treat each other and our groups is a reflection of how we put “we” before “me.”

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I will treat other members with respect and kindness today. I will act in ways that support recovery–yours, mine, and ours.

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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