Flyout Menu

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.

Learn More
Find NA Near You

Resource of the Month

tooltip2
PSA Overlay

“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. 

Find NA Near You

Subscribe to NAWS Emails

Sign up to receive Just for Today and SPAD daily meditation emails, as well as NAWS News, NAWS Updates, and more.

Click Here

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

Learn More about NA

Daily Meditations

Just for Today

November 12, 2025

Our own story
Page 330
“When we honestly tell our own story, someone else may identify with us.“
Basic Text, p. 98
Many of us have heard truly captivating speakers at Narcotics Anonymous conventions. We remember the audience alternating between tears of identification and joyous hilarity. “Someday,” we may think, “I'm going to be a main speaker at a convention, too.”

Well, for many of us, that day has yet to arrive. Once in awhile we may be asked to speak at a meeting near where we live. We might speak at a small convention workshop. But after all this time, we're still not “hot” convention speakers–and that's okay. We've learned that we, too, have a special message to share, even if it's only at a local meeting with fifteen or twenty addicts in attendance.

Each of us has only our own story to tell; that's it. We can't tell anyone else's story. Every time we get up to speak, many of us find all the clever lines and funny stories seem to disappear from our minds. But we do have something to offer. We carry the message of hope–we can and do recover from our addiction. And that's enough.

Just for Today: I will remember that my honest story is what I share the best. Today, that's enough.

A Spiritual Principle a Day

November 12, 2025

Removing Barriers to Inclusiveness
Page 327
“We start to look more carefully at what makes a meeting feel safe and welcoming.“
Living Clean, Chapter 4, “Disability”
We know the struggles of addiction firsthand, the danger and degradation. We remember what it was like to walk into our first meeting–to feel that initial spark of hope. We pray for the addict who still suffers, and we feel for them because we've been there. Our empathy helps us see our meetings, meeting places, and all of the social interactions surrounding them through others' eyes.

We genuinely want every addict seeking recovery to feel safe and welcome when they walk through the doors. When we're on our spiritual A-game, empathy guides our choices and ensures that we are inclusive. It's easy to get lazy, however. We neglect the proper consideration of others' needs. We may even justify our complacency and squash new ideas with the classic: “This is the way we've always done it.”

Experience has a way of nudging out such smugness. When a home-group member comes to need a wheelchair, it highlights the necessity of an accessible meeting place. When a hard-of-hearing member explains the importance of visual cues in communication, we follow their lead. We change the room setup with attention to lighting, acoustics, and sight lines. When new members come from outside the dominant culture, we go out of our way to welcome them. If diversity challenges us personally, perhaps we need to examine our reservations about the NA message. We recommit to the proposal that any addict can find recovery in NA. Empathy, generosity, and inclusiveness guide us toward a new perspective on helping addicts find a safe and welcoming place to surrender.

As the First Tradition suggests, we put our common welfare first. We plan for needs that haven't yet surfaced. We remove barriers to participation–physical, perceptual, or cultural–and do what's in our power to make NA truly available to us all.
———     ———     ———     ———     ———
I will look at my home group with fresh eyes and imagine how someone different from me might experience it. What can I do to make first-time attendees feel safer and more welcome?

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

Subscribe to NAWS Emails

Sign up to receive NAWS Updates and NAWS News emails as well as Just for Today and SPAD daily emails. 

Subscribe