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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

December 25, 2025

Anonymity and Self-Will
Page 375
“The drive for personal gain… which brought so much pain in the past falls by the wayside if we adhere to the principle of anonymity.“
Basic Text, p. 76
The word anonymity itself means namelessness, but there's a larger principle at work in the anonymity of the NA program: the principle of selflessness. When we admit our powerlessness to manage our own lives, we take our first step away from self-will and our first step toward selflessness. The less we try to run our lives on self-will, the more we find the power and direction once so sorely lacking in our lives.

But the principle of selflessness does a lot more than just make us feel better–it helps us live better. Our ideas of how the world should be run begin to lose their importance, and we stop trying to impose our will on everyone and everything around us. And when we abandon our “know-it-all” pretensions and start recognizing the value of other peoples' experience, we start treating them with respect. The interests of others become as important to us as our own; we start to think about what's best for the group, rather than just what's best for us. We start living a life that's bigger than we are, that's more than just us, our name, ourselves–we start living the principle of anonymity.

Just for Today: God, please free me from self-will. Help me understand the principle of anonymity; help me to live selflessly.

A Spiritual Principle a Day

December 25, 2025

Similar, Different, and United
Page 371
“Unity changes us. When we rise above our differences we start to understand who we are, how we fit, and how much we have to offer the world.“
Guiding Principles, Tradition One, Opening Reflection
When we first come to NA, it's suggested that we “look at the similarities, not the differences” when comparing ourselves to our fellow members. As newcomers, this may have seemed like a ploy to diminish our uniqueness. We wondered, Do they want me to think I'm just like every other addict? Impossible!

To our surprise, that recommendation has been key to saving our lives. It was important for us to see the similarities in our stories and to focus on the common ground of our solution. Instead of looking at our differences as disqualifiers, we learn that our diversity is our strength. As Narcotics Anonymous members, we have the opportunity to rise above, even embrace, our differences. Many of us find an unanticipated gift in recovering with people who don't look or sound as we do.

But even more unexpected is how we learn to draw from the assortment of perspectives that we encounter in working an NA program: frequency of meeting attendance, the right number of service commitments, the difference between defects and shortcomings, and when we can start dating again. We learn from others, figure out what works for us as individuals, and make choices to benefit our personal recovery. We also benefit from witnessing and participating in, um, spirited debates about NA issues at business and area meetings. A diversity of perspectives informs our own dynamic contributions to our home group, our NA community, the Fellowship as a whole, and our personal and professional lives outside NA, even in our families.

Unity does change us. It helps us to look for and appreciate our similarities and our differences.
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I know who I am and what I believe today, even as I strive to be open-minded enough to consider perspectives different from my own.

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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