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.
“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
December 13, 2024 |
Membership |
Page 363 |
“There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using.“ |
Basic Text, p. 9 |
We all know people who could benefit from Narcotics Anonymous. Many people we encounter from all walks of life–our family members, old friends, and co-workers–could really use a program of recovery in their lives. Sadly, those who need us don’t always find their way to our rooms. NA is a program of attraction, not promotion. We are only members when we say we are. We can bring our friends and loved ones to a meeting if they are willing, but we cannot force them to embrace the way of life that has given us freedom from active addiction. Membership in Narcotics Anonymous is a highly personal decision. The choice to become a member is made in the heart of each individual addict. In the long run, coerced meeting attendance doesn’t keep too many addicts in our rooms. Only addicts who are still suffering, if given the opportunity, can decide if they are powerless over their addiction. We can carry the message, but we can’t carry the addict. |
Just for Today: I am grateful for my decision to become a member of Narcotics Anonymous. |
A Spiritual Principle a Day
December 13, 2024 |
Individuality and Our Spiritual Awakenings |
Page 359 |
“The idea of a spiritual awakening takes many different forms in the different personalities that we find in the Fellowship.“ |
Basic Text, Chapter 4, “Step Twelve” |
Step Twelve speaks of the spiritual awakening we have as a result of working the Steps. By the time most of us begin our work on Step Twelve, we typically have had any number of awakenings of a spiritual nature. Some awakenings might seem small, like recognizing an asset we’ve never noticed when we write our Step Four inventory. Other awakenings are more profound, like realizing how a handful of behavior patterns all trace back to a particular character defect we are just now coming to understand. As long as we keep moving through the Steps, we will continue learning about ourselves. The Basic Text mentions that we differ in degree of sickness and rate of recovery, so it stands to reason that the types of awakenings each of us needs may be quite different, as well. We all have our own stories, including how we got here and where we are going. Hearing others share about their awakenings can be inspiring and instructive, but having our own experiences–even if they differ from what we hear others share–is what really matters. If we wait to have the same experience we hear others share, we may be disappointed. Worse yet, we may miss what’s happening in our own heart and spirit if we look only for what others have described to us, rather than seeing what we see for ourselves. The prospect of having a spiritual awakening that is truly our own can be both awe-inspiring and intimidating. While our awakenings may not be identical to anyone else’s, the better we get to know the truth of our own experiences, the better we will be able to recognize the truth shared with us by fellow addicts. We are each on our own journey, but much of the terrain we cover is the same. |
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The awakenings we experience in the Steps may be different, but the message we carry is the same. I will honor the truth of my own awakenings as well as those shared by fellow NA members. |
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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