About NA

About na

Developement

Narcotics Anonymous sprang from the Alcoholics Anonymous Program of the late 1940s, with NA meetings first emerging in the Los Angeles area of California, USA, in the early 1950s. The NA program started as a small US organization that has grown into one of the world’s oldest and largest international organizations of its type. For many years, NA grew very slowly, spreading from Los Angeles to other major North American cities and Australia in the early 1970s. Within a few years, groups had formed in Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, the Irish Republic, Japan, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. In 1983, Narcotics Anonymous published its self-titled Basic Text book, which contributed to its tremendous growth; by year’s end, NA had grown to more than a dozen countries and had 2,966 meetings.

Today, Narcotics Anonymous is well established throughout much of North and South America, Western Europe, Australia, the Middle East, New Zealand and Eastern Europe. Newly formed groups and NA communities can be found scattered throughout the Indian subcontinent, Africa, and East Asia. Today the organization is truly a worldwide multilingual multicultural fellowship with more than 58,000 weekly meetings in 131 countries*. Narcotics Anonymous books and information pamphlets are currently available in 39 languages, with translations in process for 16 languages.

*As of May 2010

Program

NA’s earliest self-titled pamphlet, known among members as “the White Booklet,” describes Narcotics Anonymous this way:

“NA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men

and women for whom drugs had become a

major problem. We … meet regularly to help

each other stay clean. … We are not interested

In what or how much you used ... but only in

what you want to do about your problem and

how we can help.”

Membership is open to all drug addicts, regardless of the particular drug or combination of drugs used. When adapting AA’s First Step, the word “addiction” was substituted for “alcohol,” thus removing drug-specific language and reflecting the “disease concept” of addiction. Narcotics Anonymous provides a recovery process and peer support network that are linked together. One of the keys to NA’s success is the therapeutic value of addicts working with other addicts. Members share their successes and challenges in overcoming active addiction and living drug-free, productive lives through the

application of the principles contained within the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of NA. These principles are the core of the Narcotics Anonymous recovery program. Narcotics Anonymous itself is a non-religious program of recovery; each member is encouraged to cultivate an individual understanding— religious or not—of the spiritual principles and apply these principles to everyday life. There are no social, religious, economic, racial, ethnic, national, gender, or class-status membership restrictions. There are no dues or fees for membership; most members regularly contribute in meetings to help cover the expenses incurred for the rent of facility space.

Narcotics Anonymous is not affiliated with other organizations, including other twelve step programs, treatment centers, or correctional facilities. As an organization, NA does not employ professional counselors or therapists nor does it provide residential facilities or clinics. Additionally, the fellowship does not offer vocational, legal, financial, psychiatric, or medical services. NA has only one mission: to provide an environment in which addicts can help one another stop using drugs and find a new way to live.

In Narcotics Anonymous, members are encouraged to comply with complete abstinence from all drugs including alcohol. It has been the experience of NA members that complete and continuous abstinence provides the best foundation for recovery and personal growth. NA as a whole has no opinion on outside issues, including prescribed medications. Use of psychiatric medication and other medically indicated drugs prescribed by a physician and taken under medical supervision is not seen as compromising a person’s recovery in NA.

Service Organization

The primary service provided by Narcotics Anonymous is the NA group meeting. Each group runs itself based on principles common to the entire organization, which is expressed in NA’s literature.

Most groups rent space for their meetings in buildings run by public, religious, or civic organizations. Individual members lead the NA meetings while other members participate by sharing about their experiences in recovering from drug addiction. Group members also work together to perform the activities associated with running a meeting.

In a country where Narcotics Anonymous is a relatively new and emerging fellowship, the NA group is the only level of organization. In places where a number of Narcotics Anonymous groups have had the chance to develop and stabilize, groups elect representatives to form a local service committee. These local committees usually offer a number of

services. Included among them are:

· distribution of NA literature;

· helpline information services;

· presentations for treatment and healthcare staff, civic organizations, government agencies, and schools;

· presentations to acquaint treatment or correctional facility clients with the NA program; and

· maintaining NA meeting directories for individual information and for any interested person.

In some countries, especially the larger countries or those where Narcotics Anonymous is well established, a umber of local/area committees have come together to create regional committees. These regional committees handle services within their larger geographical boundaries while the local/area committees operate local services.

An international delegate assembly known as the World Service Conference provides guidance on issues affecting the entire organization. Primary among the priorities of NA’s world services are activities that support emerging and developing NA communities and the translation of Narcotics Anonymous literature.

For additional information, contact the NA World Services headquarters in LosAngeles, California at:

Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

PO Box 9999 – Van Nuys, CA 91409 USA

Tel. +1-818-773-9999 Fax +1-818-700-0700

Website: www.na.org