NA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We are recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other to stay clean. There are no dues or fees. The only requirement for membership is the desire to stop using.
Is NA for me?
This is a question every potential member must answer for themselves. It may help to read some of our informational pamphlets, starting with "Am I an addict?" and "Welcome to NA".
If you’re an addict, NA can help. "Narcotics Anonymous offers recovery to addicts around the world. We focus on the disease of addiction rather than any particular drug. Our message is broad enough to attract addicts from any social class or nationality. 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”)
If you’re planning to attend your first meeting, you may also be interested in IP #29,"An Introduction to NA Meetings."
What happens at an NA Meeting
"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. The words we use and the way we act might be unfamiliar to you at first, but hopefully this information can help you get the most out of your first NA meeting or help you feel more comfortable as you keep coming back. Showing up early, staying late, and asking lots of questions before and after meetings will help you get the most out of every meeting you attend....
...People have all sorts of reasons for attending NA meetings, but the purpose of each meeting is to give NA members a place to share recovery with other addicts. If you are not an addict, look for an open meeting, which welcomes non-addicts. If you’re an addict or think you might have a drug problem, we suggest a meeting every day for at least 90 days to get to know NA members and our program...."
(excerpts from IP #29, "An Introduction to NA Meetings")
NA literature is also a great source of information about our program. Our Basic Text, Narcotics Anonymous, or our information pamphlets (IPs) are a good place to start. Most meetings offer IPs for free, while books are generally sold at the group's cost. Most of our literature is also available to read on this website.
To begin, we invite you to read IP #22, "Welcome to NA". Please come to our meetings and "Keep Coming Back!"