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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 of 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”

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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.

Information About NA

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Daily Meditations

Just for Today

May 06, 2026

Are we having fun yet?
Page 132
“In time, we can relax and enjoy the atmosphere of recovery.“
Basic Text, p. 56
Imagine what would happen if a newcomer walked into one of our meetings and was met by a group of grim-faced people gripping the arms of their chairs with white knuckles. That newcomer would probably bolt, perhaps muttering, “I thought I could get off drugs and be happy.”

Thankfully, our newcomers are usually met by a group of friendly, smiling folks who are obviously fairly content with the lives they've found in Narcotics Anonymous. What an enormous amount of hope this provides! A newcomer, whose life has been deadly serious, is strongly attracted by an atmosphere of laughter and relaxation. Coming from a place where everything is taken seriously, where disaster always waits around the next corner, it's a welcome relief to enter a room and find people who generally don't take themselves too seriously, who are ready for something wonderful.

We learn to lighten up in recovery. We laugh at the absurdity of our addiction. Our meetings–those rooms filled with the lively, happy sounds of percolating coffee, clattering chairs, and laughing addicts–are the gathering places where we first welcome our newcomers and let them know that, yes, we're having fun now.
Just for Today: I can laugh at myself. I can take a joke. I will lighten up and have some fun today.

A Spiritual Principle a Day

May 06, 2026

The Discernment Dimmer Switch
Page 131
“Discernment comes from hard experience: trusting people we shouldn't, being hurt, and coming back anyway.“
Living Clean, Chapter 5, “Friendship”
Addicts seem especially prone to being all-or-nothing people. We either know or have been the kind of people who flip between manipulation and brutal honesty, who exercise eight days a week or not at all, or who have love/hate relationships with everything and everybody. One member described their approach to relationships this way: “Either I'm all in or you're dead to me.” Suspicion, cynicism, and self-reliance were survival skills.

It doesn't take much cleantime for us to realize this dark and fearful view of the world won't serve our recovery well. Hope for a better life creeps up on us, crowding out our previously dark outlook. Some of us even adopt an uncharacteristically sunny disposition as the renowned “pink cloud” colors our entire approach to life for a time. Not to knock this glorious phase of early recovery or those lucky enough to experience it, but blind optimism carries its own risks. We can trust NA with saving our lives without entrusting every member with all of our secrets. It's important to modulate our openness, discerning the difference between sharing at group level, confiding in a friend, and baring our soul in a Fifth Step. Of course, some of our best lessons come from our mistakes.

This is where discernment comes in. Discernment introduces us to the brake pedal so that we don't have to lurch between extremes. Tapping the brakes on our thinking and behavior allows us to practice good judgment instead of impulsiveness. Discernment turns a toggle switch into a dial. Instead of binary choices like trust or don't trust, we discern the useful territory between poles. We discern not just right from wrong, but also right from almost right.

Discernment helps us make better choices and learn from experience. We'll still get things wrong, but we take the time to discern a better approach and try again.
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Do I have toggle switches for some of my emotions or behaviors that should be converted to dials? How can a discernment dimmer switch tone down some of my excesses?

Do you need help with a drug problem?

Find NA Near You

“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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