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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:

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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.

Information About NA

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Daily Meditations

Just for Today

February 01, 2026

Hardships
Page 33
“We felt different… Only after surrender are we able to overcome the alienation of addiction.“
Basic Text, p. 22
“But you don't understand!” we spluttered, trying to cover up. “I'm different! I've really got it rough!” We used these lines over and over in our active addiction, either trying to escape the consequences of our actions or avoid following the rules that applied to everyone else. We may have cried them at our first meeting. Perhaps we've even caught ourselves whining them recently.

So many of us feel different or unique. As addicts, we can use almost anything to alienate ourselves. But there's no excuse for missing out on recovery, nothing that can make us ineligible for the program–not a life-threatening illness, not poverty, not anything. There are thousands of addicts who have found recovery despite the real hardships they've faced. Through working the program, their spiritual awareness has grown, in spite of–or perhaps in response to–those hardships.

Our individual circumstances and differences are irrelevant when it comes to recovery. By letting go of our uniqueness and surrendering to this simple way of life, we're bound to find that we feel a part of something. And feeling a part of something gives us the strength to walk through life, hardships and all.
Just for Today: I will let go of my uniqueness and embrace the principles of recovery I have in common with so many others. My hardships do not exclude me from recovery; rather, they draw me into it.

A Spiritual Principle a Day

February 01, 2026

Listening Leads to Acceptance
Page 33
“Listening to other addicts share without judging them is the beginning of listening to our own heart without judgment or punishment.“
Living Clean, Chapter 1, “Growing Pains”
We do our best to silence our inner critics as we listen to other members share in meetings. We focus on their words and the feelings behind them. We practice acceptance by listening with care and attention. We set aside our own ideas about their lives and their recovery, even if it's just for the moment.

One member shared, “I can connect to anyone's story as long as I filter it through the message.” When we listen for the message, it helps us relate on an emotional level. We can recall our attempts to stop using and the process of losing the desire to use. We find it easier to stop judging and start accepting our fellow members when we recognize all of our struggles as part of finding a new way to live.

We realize that being judgmental sours our ability to empathize, even when we don't give voice to such thoughts. After recognizing the obstacle this creates in our own recovery, we stop silently condemning other people's behavior. When we listen without judgment, we get a glimpse of freedom from the punishing thoughts we've lived with for so long. One of the gifts of NA recovery is that we learn to quiet our minds so we can listen with our hearts.
———     ———     ———     ———     ———
Today, thanks to NA, I will quiet my inner monologue and practice applying the principle of acceptance to myself and others.

Do you need help with a drug problem?

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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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