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.

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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

Daily Meditations

Just for Today

July 10, 2025

A positive attitude

Page 200

“That old nest of negativism followed me everywhere I went.“

Basic Text, p. 137

A negative attitude is the trademark of active addiction. Everything that occurred in our lives was someone or something else's fault. We had blaming others for our shortcomings down to a fine science. In recovery, one of the first things we strive to develop is a new attitude. We find that life goes a lot easier when we replace our negative thinking with positive principles.

While a negative attitude dogged us in our active addiction, all too often it can follow us into the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous. How can we begin to adjust our attitudes? By altering our actions. It isn't easy, but it can be done.

We can start by listening to the way we talk. Before we open our mouths, we ask ourselves some simple questions: Does what I'm going to say speak to the problem, or the solution? Is what I'm going to say framed in a kind manner? Is what I have to say important, or would everyone be just as well off if I kept my mouth shut? Am I talking just to hear myself talk, or is there some purpose to my “words of wisdom”?

Our attitudes are expressed in our actions. Often, it's not what we say, but the way we say it, that really matters. As we learn to speak in a more positive manner, we will notice our attitudes improving as well.

Just for Today: I want to be free of negativity. Today, I will speak and act positively.

A Spiritual Principle a Day

July 10, 2025

Striving to Be Humble Servants

Page 198

“Being asked to lead, to serve, to accept responsibility, is a humbling experience for a recovering addict.“

Twelve Concepts for NA Service, Fourth Concept

While using, most of us were not asked to lead anything. When we did have such experiences, they were often opportunities for our character defects to feed like vampires on their victims' blood. Our ravenous need for perfection and validation, our self-importance, competitiveness, and attention-seeking branded those situations. Others of us imploded with self-doubt. We couldn't ask for help, didn't feel we had anything to offer, or were too high to show up. Such experiences only made us more isolated and fearful and even less willing to take on responsibilities, if anyone bothered to ask again.

When it comes to service, our one-two punch of low self-esteem and high self-importance follows us into the rooms. If we are asked to take out the rubbish, it requires asking someone, “Where to?” and even that can be hard for us. If we're asked to lead a meeting, we need assurance that we don't have to wow them with war stories–real or imagined–or slay with our comic genius. All we have to do is show up and be honest. When we lack humility, everything is more complicated than it needs to be.

If we are willing, we'll end up in service positions that suit our innate talents–some that we'll grow into with support and others that will expose our defects to the bone. Humility is the vehicle that allows us to accept responsibility without serving our ego. We can do something well without showing off, just as we can do something awkwardly, or even fail at it, with grace.

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Next time I'm asked to serve, I'll just do the task as well as possible. That's what really matters.

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…”

Welcome to Narcotics Anonymous

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It Works: How and Why, “Third Tradition”

Is NA for me?

Need help for family or a friend?

Subscribe to NAWS Emails

Basic Text, “We Do Recover”

Recovery Quicklinks:

Service Quicklinks:

Information About NA

Daily Meditations

Just for Today

July 10, 2025

A positive attitude

A Spiritual Principle a Day

July 10, 2025

Striving to Be Humble Servants

Do you need help with a drug problem?

Subscribe to NAWS Emails