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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:

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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”

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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.

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Daily Meditations

Just for Today

January 20, 2025

One promise, many gifts
Page 20
“Narcotics Anonymous offers only one promise, and that is freedom from active addiction…“
Basic Text, p. 106
Imagine how it might be if we had arrived at the doors of Narcotics Anonymous, desperate, wanting to stop using drugs, only to be met by a sales pitch: “If you just work the steps and don't use drugs, you'll get married, live in the suburbs, have 2.6 children, and start wearing polyester. You will become a responsible, productive member of society and be fit company for kings and presidents. You will be rich and have a dynamic career.” Most of us, greeted with such a heavy-handed spiel, would have shrieked and bolted for the door.

Instead of high-pressure nonsense and frightening predictions, we are greeted with a promise of hope: freedom from active addiction. We feel a blessed relief come over us when we hear that we never have to use drugs again. We aren't going to be forced to become anything!

Of course, after some time in recovery, good things start happening in our lives. We are given gifts–spiritual gifts, material gifts, gifts that we've always dreamed of but never dared hope we'd get. These, however, are truly gifts–they are not promised to us just because we become NA members. All we are promised is freedom from addiction–and it's more than enough!

Just for Today: I have been promised freedom from active addiction. The gifts I receive are the benefits of recovery.

A Spiritual Principle a Day

January 20, 2025

The Simple, Priceless Gift We Share
Page 20
“The simple, priceless gift we give each other is the recognition of our humanity.“
Guiding Principles, Tradition Eight, Opening Essay
When we're new in the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous, it seems that everyone is speaking a language we don't quite understand. All seem to know the order of things, the readings, the prayer at the end. Newly clean (or trying to be), we're already immensely uncomfortable when we're encouraged by someone to talk about what's going on with us–to a roomful of strangers? We don't know what to say, but we try anyway. People in the room vigorously nod at us, like they understand us. “Thanks for what you said,” someone tells us during the break. “You really helped me today. So glad you're here.” This is different.

“I don't even know what the hell I just said!” we reply. “I have no idea what I'm doing.” More vigorous nodding. What is wrong with these people?

NA's practice of remaining “forever nonprofessional,” as per our Eighth Tradition, suggests we are perfectly capable of delivering a message of recovery–even before we're aware that's what we're doing. We don't need professional training or coaching to share in a meeting. We don't have to know all the NA jargon or have memorized passages in our literature. We begin greeting newcomers when we're still newcomers ourselves. Depending on where we live, we may be called to sponsor before we're done with our first full round of Steps. As addicts in recovery, we are already experts–all of us–from the oldest oldtimer to the newest newcomer.

There is beauty and simplicity in the therapeutic value of one addict helping another. A desire to stop using gets us in the door, and our humanity gives us the capacity to listen and empathize, to share what's in our hearts and on our minds, to be generous, and, crucially, to accept the generosity of others. Each of us finds our expertise as recovering addicts when we accept our condition as addicts and start to tap into our assets.

This principle of simplicity is aligned with NA's commitment to anonymity: No matter who we are, we are deserving of each other's recognition that we are human and worthy of love and acknowledgment. As NA members, we give each other the simple gift of being a part of something greater than each of us. Priceless. Simple. Free.
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Today I'm going to do my best to acknowledge my fellow members' humanity and share my own. That's all I have to know how to do.

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“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…” 

An Introduction to NA Meetings

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