Cocaine Anonymous World Services Inc

Narcotics Anonymous (NA), established in 1953, is a fellowship for individuals struggling with drug addiction, operating on a non-profit basis. It utilizes a 12-step model, adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous, to help members achieve and maintain sobriety. The organization emphasizes that the sole requirement for membership is a desire to stop using drugs, with no dues or fees involved. NA meetings provide a space for members to support each other in staying clean. The program views addiction as a progressive, incurable disease that impacts all aspects of a person's life—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual—but asserts that it can be arrested through their twelve-step approach. While the steps themselves do not specify particular drugs, referring broadly to addiction, all substances including alcohol are considered equally detrimental. The core purpose of NA is to share its message of hope and the promise of freedom from active addiction with those who are still suffering.

The Narcotics Anonymous program is founded on the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, which guide members toward recovery. While based on a similar model to other 12-step groups, NA employs a distinct wording in its steps and traditions. The fellowship maintains a neutral stance on external issues, including politics, science, and medicine, and does not endorse outside organizations. Its message is disseminated through public information efforts and outreach, with members also carrying the message to institutions like treatment centers and correctional facilities. Central to NA's philosophy is the understanding of addiction as a disease that compels individuals to use drugs, often to the point of self-destruction. The program offers a path to recovery by helping addicts realize they can stop using, lose the desire to use, and discover a new way of living, emphasizing spiritual principles as a means to arrest the disease.

The fundamental unit of the NA fellowship is its regular meetings, which can take place in diverse locations such as community centers, libraries, or hospitals. Members who consistently attend a particular meeting form a 'home group,' which plays a role in the group's decision-making. Meetings are categorized as 'open,' welcoming to anyone, or 'closed,' intended solely for individuals with drug-related problems. Various formats exist, including speaker meetings, discussion meetings, and round-robin sharing. Special 'common needs' meetings cater to specific demographics like gender, age, or sexual identity, though all NA meetings are open to any addict. A significant aspect of meetings involves recognizing milestones in sobriety, often marked by the distribution of key tags and medallions, and members sharing their 'experience, strength, and hope' (ESH) regarding their recovery journey.

Service work is considered integral to the NA recovery program, encompassing activities from simple tasks like tidying up after meetings to more formalized roles within the group and broader service structure. This structure operates at area, regional, and world levels, with each level accountable to the groups it serves. NA offers a range of literature to support members, including the foundational 'Basic Text,' which outlines the program and includes personal stories. Other key publications include 'It Works: How and Why,' a detailed exploration of the steps and traditions; 'The Step Working Guides,' a workbook; and 'Just For Today,' a daily meditation book. Literature also addresses sponsorship, the history of NA, and ongoing recovery challenges, alongside numerous 'Informational Pamphlets' (IPs) covering various aspects of addiction and recovery.

“nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem”

“a desire to stop using”

“meet regularly to help each other stay clean”

“has no opinion on outside issues”

“lived to use and used to live”