Narcotics Anonymous

Narcotics Anonymous (NA), international community-based association that offers support for persons who are recovering from drug addiction. The main purpose of Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is to help individuals cease drug use and make a new life for themselves.

NA is based on the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), a fellowship of persons who seek to recover from alcohol addiction. The only requirement for membership in NA is for individuals to want to discontinue using drugs. Although NA has no religious affiliation, the program encourages individuals to follow spiritual principles. It also encourages individuals to work together in the spirit of cooperation and unity to support fellow group members.

History

NA was founded in Los Angeles in 1953 by a small group of individuals led by Jimmy Kinnon, who had been attending AA meetings but felt that the fellowship’s exclusive emphasis on alcohol left gaps in support for those struggling with drug addiction. Initially, meetings were infrequent and mostly confined to locations in California, but by the 1960s and ’70s, meetings became more frequent and regular, and the organization expanded to other regions.

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The Narcotics Anonymous White Booklet, written in 1962, became central to NA meetings. It defines the term addict, describes the program, and includes details about how and why the program works and how a person in active drug use can start the recovery process. NA subsequently created a Hospitals and Institutions (H&I) subcommittee, whose members connected with medical and care facilities to spread NA’s messaging to individuals who were unable to attend meetings.

The first NA World conference was held in 1971. It played a key role in unifying and expanding the fellowship. The following year, a World Central Office was opened in Los Angeles, and by the mid-1970s NA meetings were being held in countries such as Brazil, Japan, Germany, and New Zealand. In 1983 Narcotics Anonymous (often referred to as the “Basic Text”) was published, providing a more complete picture of the NA recovery process, fostering a thorough understanding of the role of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, and helping fuel membership. In the decades that followed, the organization expanded to numerous communities, such that in 2022 some 76,000 NA meetings were held, in person and virtually, in 143 countries worldwide.

Principles and philosophy

The core principles of NA are the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. The Twelve Steps guide individuals along the path to recovery by encouraging them to admit their powerlessness over addiction and connect with a higher power; to examine their lives willingly, honestly, and open-mindedly; to make amends to those they have harmed; and to maintain their spiritual condition. The steps focus on addiction itself in order to emphasize that addiction is a disease, and drug use is one of the symptoms of the disease. As such, neither drug use nor specific substances are mentioned in the language of the steps.

The Twelve Traditions stress the importance of group unity, autonomy, self-support, and purpose, as well as personal anonymity, to ensure the safety and integrity of NA by protecting individuals, groups, and the organization from internal conflicts and outside influence. The tradition of anonymity, in particular, plays a key role in group unity because it encourages placing principles before personalities, reinforcing the notion that all individuals affected by addiction are equal on the road to recovery. Thus, individuals may refer to themselves in meetings solely by their first names.

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Meetings

NA meetings are a central component of the recovery program. They provide a place for those with addiction to meet others who are affected, to share their experiences, and to support each other during the recovery process. Meetings are held regularly and are hosted by NA groups. They occur at locations such as churches, community centers, libraries, and treatment centers.

Meetings are either open or closed. Open meetings welcome support persons, such as family members and friends of individuals in recovery. Closed meetings are reserved for those affected by addiction or who believe they may have addiction issues. The format of meetings can vary, but most are either discussion-based or speaker-based. In discussion-based meetings attendees are given the opportunity to share their experiences, usually with no direct feedback. In some formats, each individual who shares picks the next person to share. In speaker-based meetings groups select a single individual to share their experiences for the majority of the meeting. In many instances, a portion of the meeting, regardless of its format, is devoted to reading the Twelve Steps or other NA literature, making NA-related announcements, and recognizing individuals who are marking recovery anniversaries.

Group roles

When an individual attends the same group meetings on a regular basis for a length of time, they often consider it their home group and may choose to participate in additional roles to further support their recovery and that of others. Some of these roles include that of a sponsor and of a trusted servant. Sponsors are experienced members of NA living successfully in recovery who guide other members of the program through the Twelve Steps. Trusted servants are members who hold positions such as greeters, speaker coordinators, group secretaries, treasurers, and chairpersons to serve the fellowship.