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Who Is An Addict
Most of us do not have to think twice about this question. We Know! Our whole life and thinking was centered
in drugs in one form or another - the getting and using and finding ways and means to get more. We lived to use and used to
live. Very simply, an addict is a man or woman whose life is controlled by drugs. We are people in the grip of a continuing
and progressive illness whose ends are always the same: jails, institutions, and death.
Reprinted from the Little White Booklet,
Narcotics Anonymous, page 1
What Is The Narcotics Anonymous Program
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 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.
There are no strings attached to NA. We are not affiliated with any other organizations,
we have no initiation fees or dues, no pledges to sign, no promises to make to anyone. We are not connected with any political,
religious, or law enforcement groups, and are under no surveillance at any time. Anyone may join us regardless of age, race,
sexual identity, creed, religion, or lack of religion.
We are not interested in what or how much you used or who your connections were, what you have
done in the past, how much or how little you have, but only in what you want to do about your problem and how we can help.
The newcomer is the most important person at any meeting because we can only keep what we have by giving it away. We have
learned from our group experience that those who keep corning to our meetings regularly , stay clean.
Reprinted from the Little White Booklet,
Narcotics Anonymous, page 1
Why Are We Here
Before coming to the Fellowship of N.A., we could not manage our own lives. We could not live and enjoy life
as other people do. We had to have something different and we thought we had found it in drugs. We placed their use ahead
of the welfare of our families, our wives, husbands and our children. We had to have drugs at all costs. We did many people
great harm, but most of all we harmed ourselves. Through our inability to accept personal responsibilities we were actually
creating our own problems. We seemed to be incapable of facing life on its own terms.
Most of realized that in our addiction we were slowly committing suicide, but addiction is such a cunning
enemy of life that we had lost the power to do anything about it. Many of us ended up in jail, or sought help through medicine,
religion and psychiatry. None of these methods was sufficient for us. Our disease always resurfaced or continued to progress
until in desperation, we sought help from each other in Narcotics Anonymous.
After coming to N.A. we realized we were sick people. We suffered from a disease from which there is no known
cure. It can, however be arrested at some point, and recovery is then possible.
Reprinted from the Little White Booklet,
Narcotics Anonymous, Newly Revised page 2
How It Works
If you want what we have to offer, and are willing to make the effort to get it, then you are ready to take
certain steps. These are the principles that made our recovery possible:
1. We admitted that we were powerless over our
addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe in a Power greater
than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. We made a decision to turn our will
and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. We made a searching and fearless moral
inventory of ourselves.
5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to
another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. We were entirely ready to have God remove
all these defects of character.
7. We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed
and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. We made direct amends to such people wherever
possible, except when to do so would injure the
or others.
10. We continued to take personal inventory
and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. We sought through prayer and meditation
to improve our conscious contact with God as we
understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry
that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result
of these steps, we tried to carry this message to
addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
This sounds like a big order, and we can't do it all at once. We didn't become addicted in one day, so
remember
- easy does it.
There is one thing more than anything else that will defeat us in our recover; this is an attitude of indifference
or intolerance towards spiritual principles. Three of these that are indispensable are honesty, open-mindedness,
and
willingness. With these we are well on our way.
We feel that our approach to the disease if addiction is completely realistic, for the therapeutic value
of one addict helping another is without parallel. We feel that our way is practical, for one addict can best understand and
help another addict. We believe that the sooner we face our problems within our society, in everyday living, just that much
faster do we become acceptable, responsible, and productive members of that society.
The only way to keep from returning to active addiction is not to take that fist drug. If you are like us
you know that one is too many and a thousand never enough. We put great emphasis on this, for we know that when we use drugs
in one form or another we release our addiction all over again.
Thinking of alcohol as different from other drugs has caused a great many addicts to relapse. Before we came
to NA, many of us viewed alcohol separately, but we cannot be confused about this. Alcohol is a drug. We are people with the
disease of addiction who must abstain from all drugs in order to recover.
Reprinted from the Little White Booklet,
Narcotics Anonymous, page 3
The Twelve Traditions
We keep what we have only with vigilance, and just as freedom for the individual comes from the Twelve Steps,
so freedom for the group springs from our traditions.
As long as the ties that bind us together are stronger than those that would tear us apart, all will be well.
1. Our common welfare should come first; personal
recovery depends on NA unity.
2. For our group purpose there is but on
ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express
himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3. The only requirement for membership is a desire
to stop using.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters
affecting other groups or NA as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose - to
carry the message to the addict who still suffers.
6. An NA group ought never endorse, finance, or
lend the NA name to any related facility or outside
enterprise, lest problems of money, property, or prestige divert us from our primary purpose
7. Every NA group ought to be fully self-supporting,
declining outside contribution.
8. Narcotics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional
but our service centers may employ
special workers.
9. NA, as such ought never be organized, but we
may create service boards or committees
directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Narcotics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues;
hence the NA name ought
never
be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction
rather than promotion; we need always maintain
personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our
traditions, ever reminding us to place principles
before personalities.
Understanding these traditions comes slowly over a period of time. We pick up information as we talk to members
and visit various groups. It usually isn't until we get involved with service that someone points out that "personal recovery
depends on NA unity," and that unity depends on how well we follow our traditions. The Twelve Traditions of NA are not negotiable.
they are the guidelines that keep our fellowship alive and free.
By following these guidelines in our dealings with others, and society at large, we avoid many problems. That
is not to say that our traditions eliminate all problems. We still have to face difficulties as they arise: communication
problems, differences of opinion, internal controversies, and troubles with individuals and groups outside the fellowship.
However, when we apply these principles, we avoid some of the pitfalls.
Many of our problems are like those that our predecessors has to face. Their hard-won experience gave birth
to the traditions, and our own experience has shown that these principles are just as valid today as they were when these
traditions were formulated. Our traditions protect us from the internal and external forces that could destroy us. They are
truly the ties that bind us together. It is only through understanding and application that they work.
Reprinted from the Basic Text,
Narcotics Anonymous, 5th Edition
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