What is Narcotics Anonymous?
N.A. 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 stay clean. This is a program of complete abstinence from all drugs. There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using. We suggest that you keep an open mind and give yourself a break. Our program is a set of principles written so simply that we can follow them in our daily lives. The most important thing about them is that they work. We have learned from our group experience that those who keep coming to our meetings regularly stay clean.
For Professionals
Narcotics Anonymous is an international, community-based, association of recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other stay clean. We have over 70,000 weekly meetings in over 144 countries worldwide.
For Newcomers
The simple message of Narcotics Anonymous is… “That an addict, any addict, can stop using drugs, lose the desire to use and find a new way to live”
Connecticut NA History Project
Explore the history of Narcotics Anonymous in Connecticut. This captivating history project sheds light on the transformative journey of addiction recovery in Connecticut.
Just for Today
Becoming entirely ready to have our defects of character removed can be a long process, often taking place over the course of a lifetime. Our state of readiness grows in direct proportion to our awareness of these defects and the destruction they cause.
We may have trouble seeing the devastation our defects are inflicting on our lives and the lives of those around us. If this is the case, we would do well to ask our Higher Power to reveal those flaws which stand in the way of our progress.
As we let go of our shortcomings and find their influence waning, we'll notice that a loving God replaces those defects with quality attributes. Where we were fearful, we find courage. Where we were selfish, we find generosity. Our delusions about ourselves will disappear to be replaced by self-honesty and self-acceptance.
Yes, becoming entirely ready means we will change. Each new level of readiness brings new gifts. Our basic nature changes, and we soon find our readiness is no longer sparked only by pain but by a desire to grow spiritually.
Spiritual Principle a Day
Many of us can say: "Relapse is a part of my story."
From our own experience and from listening to each other share, we know the possibility that we might not stay clean is very real. What causes an addict in recovery to choose to get high again? It can be anything, really, but an unaware "I got this" can be especially dangerous. We tire of hearing the message, sharing the message, and, frankly, each other. The sun goes down and comes back up on what seems like the same day. We become increasingly cranky and unfulfilled. Having become disillusioned with life clean but without recovery, maybe we even quit going to meetings. Eventually, we reach outside of ourselves to fix our insides and use again. When we come back to the rooms, we tell our story of complacency and sitting on that stepwork.
While there are endless versions of the relapse story, we all have heard the ones that don't have happy Narcotics Anonymous endings. Not everybody makes it back to NA and has the opportunity for another go at recovery. Knowing we could die out there—or not die but bring ruin to our livelihood and relationships—doesn't keep us clean. So . . . what does?
We know the answer to the question. It's pushing through with the basics of Steps, service, sponsor, and Higher Power. It's breathing life into our recovery in whatever ways we can. Start a new meeting? Take on another sponsee? Read the daily "SPAD" entry? It's doing what we all have done in the past, again, just for today. It's carrying the message to a newcomer to remind ourselves of where we came from and what was so freely given to us. It's not picking up, even when we want to. It's staying, even when we don't want to. Perseverance can be an antidote to complacency. We want to live, so we have to keep on living.
We don't need a new relapse story, or one at all. It's preventable, not inevitable.
