Narcotics Anonymous sprang from the Alcoholics Anonymous Program of the late 1940s, with NA meetings first emerging in the Los Angeles area of California, USA, in the early 1950s. The NA program started as a small US organization that has grown into one of the world\u2019s oldest and largest international organizations of its type. For many years, NA grew very slowly, spreading from Los Angeles to other major North American cities and Australia in the early 1970s. Within a few years, groups had formed in Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, and Great Britain. In 1983, Narcotics Anonymous published its self-titled Basic Text book, which contributed to NA\u2019s tremendous growth; by year\u2019s end, NA had grown to have a presence in more than a dozen countries and had 2,966 meetings worldwide.<\/p>\n
Today, Narcotics Anonymous is well established throughout much of North and South America, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, New Zealand, and Russia. Groups and NA communities continue to grow and evolve throughout the Indian subcontinent, Africa, and Asia. Today the organization is truly a worldwide multilingual multicultural fellowship with nearly 67,000 weekly meetings in 139 countries.<\/p>\n
Narcotics Anonymous books and information pamphlets are currently available in 49 languages, with translations in process for 16 languages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Program<\/h2>\n\n\nNA\u2019s earliest self-titled pamphlet, known among members as \u201cthe White Booklet,\u201d describes Narcotics Anonymous this way:<\/p>\n
\u201cNA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We \u2026 meet regularly to help each other stay clean. \u2026 We are not interested in what or how much you used \u2026 but only in what you want to do about your problem and how we can help.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Membership is open to all drug addicts, regardless of the particular drug or combination of drugs used. When adapting AA\u2019s First Step, the word \u201caddiction\u201d was substituted for \u201calcohol,\u201d thus removing drug-specific language and reflecting the \u201cdisease concept\u201d of addiction. Narcotics Anonymous provides a recovery process and peer support network that are linked together. One of the keys to NA\u2019s success is the therapeutic value of addicts working with other addicts. Members share their successes and challenges in overcoming active addiction and living drug-free, productive lives through the application of the principles contained within the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of NA. These principles are the core of the Narcotics Anonymous recovery program. Narcotics Anonymous itself is a non-religious program of recovery; each member is encouraged to cultivate an individual understanding\u2014religious or not\u2014of the spiritual principles and apply these principles to everyday life.<\/p>\n
There are no social, religious, economic, racial, ethnic, national, gender, or class-status membership restrictions. There are no dues or fees for membership; most members regularly contribute in meetings to help cover the expenses incurred for the rent of facility space.<\/p>\n
Narcotics Anonymous is not affiliated with other organizations, including other twelve step programs, treatment centers, or correctional facilities. As an organization, NA does not employ professional counselors or therapists nor does it provide residential facilities or clinics. Additionally, the fellowship does not offer vocational, legal, financial, psychiatric, or medical services. NA has only one mission: to provide an environment in which addicts can help one another stop using drugs and find a new way to live.<\/p>\n
\u00a0In Narcotics Anonymous, membership is based on a desire to stop using drugs including alcohol and has as a foundation, the principle of complete abstinence. It has been the experience of NA members that complete and continuous abstinence provides the best foundation for recovery and personal growth. NA as a whole has no opinion on outside issues, including prescribed medications. Use of psychiatric medication and other medically indicated drugs prescribed by a physician and taken under medical supervision is not seen as compromising a person\u2019s recovery in NA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Development Narcotics Anonymous sprang from the Alcoholics Anonymous Program of the late 1940s, with NA meetings first emerging in the Los Angeles area of California, USA, in the early 1950s. The NA program started as a small US organization that has grown into one of the world\u2019s oldest and largest international organizations of its type.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"on","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3276","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3276"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4153,"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3276\/revisions\/4153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
NA\u2019s earliest self-titled pamphlet, known among members as \u201cthe White Booklet,\u201d describes Narcotics Anonymous this way:<\/p>\n
\u201cNA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We \u2026 meet regularly to help each other stay clean. \u2026 We are not interested in what or how much you used \u2026 but only in what you want to do about your problem and how we can help.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Membership is open to all drug addicts, regardless of the particular drug or combination of drugs used. When adapting AA\u2019s First Step, the word \u201caddiction\u201d was substituted for \u201calcohol,\u201d thus removing drug-specific language and reflecting the \u201cdisease concept\u201d of addiction. Narcotics Anonymous provides a recovery process and peer support network that are linked together. One of the keys to NA\u2019s success is the therapeutic value of addicts working with other addicts. Members share their successes and challenges in overcoming active addiction and living drug-free, productive lives through the application of the principles contained within the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of NA. These principles are the core of the Narcotics Anonymous recovery program. Narcotics Anonymous itself is a non-religious program of recovery; each member is encouraged to cultivate an individual understanding\u2014religious or not\u2014of the spiritual principles and apply these principles to everyday life.<\/p>\n
There are no social, religious, economic, racial, ethnic, national, gender, or class-status membership restrictions. There are no dues or fees for membership; most members regularly contribute in meetings to help cover the expenses incurred for the rent of facility space.<\/p>\n
Narcotics Anonymous is not affiliated with other organizations, including other twelve step programs, treatment centers, or correctional facilities. As an organization, NA does not employ professional counselors or therapists nor does it provide residential facilities or clinics. Additionally, the fellowship does not offer vocational, legal, financial, psychiatric, or medical services. NA has only one mission: to provide an environment in which addicts can help one another stop using drugs and find a new way to live.<\/p>\n
\u00a0In Narcotics Anonymous, membership is based on a desire to stop using drugs including alcohol and has as a foundation, the principle of complete abstinence. It has been the experience of NA members that complete and continuous abstinence provides the best foundation for recovery and personal growth. NA as a whole has no opinion on outside issues, including prescribed medications. Use of psychiatric medication and other medically indicated drugs prescribed by a physician and taken under medical supervision is not seen as compromising a person\u2019s recovery in NA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Development Narcotics Anonymous sprang from the Alcoholics Anonymous Program of the late 1940s, with NA meetings first emerging in the Los Angeles area of California, USA, in the early 1950s. The NA program started as a small US organization that has grown into one of the world\u2019s oldest and largest international organizations of its type.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"on","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3276","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3276"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4153,"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3276\/revisions\/4153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/na-georgia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}