Development Membership is open to all drug addicts, regard- personal growth. NA as a whole has no opinion on their larger geographical boundaries while the lo- less of the particular drug or combination of drugs outside issues, including prescribed medications. cal/area committees operate local services. Narcotics Anonymous sprang from the used. When adapting AA’s First Step, the word “ad- Use of psychiatric medication and other medically An international delegate assembly known as Alcoholics Anonymous Program of the late 1940s, diction” was substituted for “alcohol,” thus removing indicated drugs prescribed by a physician and taken the World Service Conference provides guidance with NA meetings first emerging in the Los Angeles drug-specific language and reflecting the “disease under medical supervision is not seen as compro- on issues affecting the entire organization. Primary area of California, USA, in the early 1950s. The NA concept” of addiction. Narcotics Anonymous pro- mising a person’s recovery in NA. among the priorities of NA’s world services are program started as a small US organization that has vides a recovery process and peer support network activities that support emerging and developing grown into one of the world’s oldest and largest in- that are linked together. One of the keys to NA’s Service Organization NA communities and the translation of Narcotics ternational organizations of its type. For many years, success is the therapeutic value of addicts working Anonymous literature. For additional information, NA grew very slowly, spreading from Los Angeles The primary service provided by Narcotics with other addicts. Members share their successes contact the NA World Services headquarters in Los to other major North American cities and Australia Anonymous is the NA group meeting. Each group and challenges in overcoming active addiction Angeles, California. The mailing address, telephone in the early 1970s. Within a few years, groups had runs itself based on principles common to the and living drug-free, productive lives through the number, fax number, and website address appear at formed in Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, the entire organization, which is expressed in NA’s lit- application of the principles contained within the the end of this pamphlet. Irish Republic, Japan, New Zealand, and the United erature. Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of NA. These Kingdom. In 1983, Narcotics Anonymous published Most groups rent space for their meetings in principles are the core of the Narcotics Anonymous Organizational Philosophy its self-titled Basic Text book, which contributed to buildings run by public, religious, or civic organiza- recovery program. Narcotics Anonymous itself is a NA’s tremendous growth; by year’s end, NA had tions. Individual members lead the NA meetings In order to maintain its focus, Narcotics non-religious program of recovery; each member is grown to have a presence in more than a dozen while other members participate by sharing about Anonymous has established a tradition of non- encouraged to cultivate an individual understand- countries and had 2,966 meetings worldwide. their experiences in recovering from drug addiction. endorsement and does not take positions on ing—religious or not—of the spiritual principles Today, Narcotics Anonymous is well established Group members also work together to perform the anything outside its own specific sphere of activity. and apply these principles to everyday life. throughout much of North and South America, activities associated with running a meeting. Narcotics Anonymous does not express opinions— There are no social, religious, economic, racial, Western Europe, Australia, the Middle East, New In a country where Narcotics Anonymous is a rel- either pro or con—on civil, social, medical, legal, or ethnic, national, gender, or class-status membership Zealand and Eastern Europe. Newly formed groups atively new and emerging fellowship, the NA group religious issues. Additionally, it does not take stands restrictions. There are no dues or fees for member- and NA communities can be found scattered is the only level of organization. In places where a on addiction-related issues such as criminality, law ship; most members regularly contribute in meet- throughout the Indian subcontinent, Africa, and number of Narcotics Anonymous groups have had enforcement, drug legalization or penalties, prosti- ings to help cover the expenses incurred for the East Asia. Today the organization is truly a world- the chance to develop and stabilize, groups elect tution, HIV/HCV infection, or syringe programs. rent of facility space. wide multilingual multicultural fellowship with representatives to form a local service committee. Narcotics Anonymous strives to be entirely Narcotics Anonymous is not affiliated with other more than 61,800 weekly meetings in 129 countries. These local committees usually offer a number of self-supporting through member contributions organizations, including other twelve step pro- Narcotics Anonymous books and information pam- services. Included among them are: and does not accept financial contributions from grams, treatment centers, or correctional facilities. phlets are currently available in 41 languages, with distribution of NA literature; non-members. Based on the same principle, groups As an organization, NA does not employ profes- translations in process for 16 languages. and service committees are administered by NA sional counselors or therapists nor does it provide helpline information services; members, for members. residential facilities or clinics. Additionally, the fel- presentations for treatment and healthcare Program Narcotics Anonymous neither endorses nor op- lowship does not offer vocational, legal, financial, staff, civic organizations, government agencies, poses any other organization’s philosophy or meth- NA’s earliest self-titled pamphlet, known among psychiatric, or medical services. NA has only one and schools; odology. NA’s primary focus is in providing a recov- members as “the White Booklet,” describes Narcotics mission: to provide an environment in which ad- presentations to acquaint treatment or correc- ery environment whereby drug addicts can share Anonymous this way: dicts can help one another stop using drugs and tional facility clients with the NA program; and their recovery experiences with one another. By “NA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men find a new way to live. and women for whom drugs had become a maintaining NA meeting directories for individ- remaining free from the distraction of controversy, In Narcotics Anonymous, membership is based major problem. We … meet regularly to help ual information and for any interested person. NA is able to focus all of its energy on its particular on a desire to stop using drugs including alcohol area of purpose. each other stay clean. … We are not interested In some countries, especially the larger coun- and has as a foundation—the principle of complete in what or how much you used ... but only in tries or those where Narcotics Anonymous is well abstinence. It has been the experience of NA mem- Cooperating with Narcotics Anonymous what you want to do about your problem and established, a number of local/area committees bers that complete and continuous abstinence how we can help.” have come together to create regional committees. Although certain traditions guide its relations provides the best foundation for recovery and These regional committees handle services within with other organizations, Narcotics Anonymous *As of May 2012 english_info about NA_8 x 14_2012.indd 1 7/14/2012 12:05:23 PM welcomes the cooperation of those in government, conventions; the diversity of our membership, espe- Quality of Life Improvement Areas the clergy, treatment and healthcare professions, cially ethnic background, seems to be representa- Multiple answers were allowed. criminal justice organizations and private voluntary tive of the geographic location of the survey. The organizations. NA’s nonaddict friends have been in- following demographic information was gathered 95% 89% ® strumental in getting Narcotics Anonymous started from a survey completed by approximately 17,492 100% 82% 80% 76% in many countries and helping NA grow worldwide. NA members, which represents the most participa- 90% NA strives to cooperate with others interested in tion we ever had. The survey was made available 80% 59% 70% Narcotics Anonymous. Our more common coopera- at the 2011 World Convention of NA in San Diego, 60% tion approaches are: providing contact information, California, in our international journal, The NA Way 50% disseminating recovery literature, and sharing infor- Magazine, and on our website: 40% mation about recovery. Additionally, NA members  Gender: 53% male, 47% female. 30% Information are often available to provide presentations for  Age: 2% 20 years old and under, 13% 21–30 20% treatment centers and correctional facilities, offering years old, 19% 31–40 years old, 32% 41–50 10% about NA information about the NA program to the profes- 0% years old, 27% 51-60 years old, and 7% over sional staff and sharing with addicts otherwise un- 60 years old. Narcotics Anonymous is an international, able to attend community-based meetings.  Ethnicity: 74% Caucasian, 11% African- community-based association of Membership Demographics American, 8% Hispanic, and 7% other. recovering drug addicts with more than  Employment status: 61% employed full- 61,800 weekly meetings in 129 countries To offer some general informal observations In 2011 the two areas that received overwhel- time, 10% employed part-time, 11% unem- worldwide. about the nature of the membership, and the effec- ming improvement with NA attendance were fami- ployed, 8% retired, 7% students, and 3% tiveness of the program, the following observations ly relationship, where 95% of our members stated homemakers. are believed to be reasonably accurate. enrichment; and social connection, which was rea- The socioeconomic strata represented by the NA lized by 89% of the respondents. NA literature states Years Drug-Free membership vary from country to country. Usually, that active addiction is marked by increased isola- members of one particular social or economic class >20 Years <1 Year tion and destruction with relationships. Recovery start and sustain most developing NA communities 14% 13% in NA has helped survey respondents to repair the worldwide, but as their fellowship development 16–20 Years activities become more effective, the membership 13% damage in their lives from drug addiction. becomes more broadly representative of all socio- economic backgrounds. 1–5 Years All ethnic and religious backgrounds are repre- 11–15 Years 28% sented among NA members. Once a developing 13% 6–10 Years NA community reaches a certain level of maturity, 19% its membership generally reflects the diversity or homogeneity of the background culture. NA members have an average of 10.87 years Membership in Narcotics Anonymous is vol- clean. This can be compared to NA’s last survey, Copyright © 2006–2012 by untary; no attendance records are kept either for which was the 2009 Membership Survey, showed Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved NA’s own purposes or for others. Because of this, members with an average of 9.1 years clean. it is sometimes difficult to provide interested par- NA World Services, Inc. Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc. ties with comprehensive information about NA PO Box 9999 PO Box 9999 – Van Nuys, CA 91409 USA Van Nuys, CA 91409-9099 USA Tel. +1/818.773.9999 Fax +1/818. 700.0700 Website: www.na.org membership. There are, however, some objective Tel: +1/818.773.9999 Fax: +1/818.700.0700 measures that can be shared based on data ob- World Service Office–EUROPE World Service Office–CANADA World Service Office–IRAN Website: www.na.org B-1050 Brussels, Belgium Mississauga, Ontario Tehran, Iran tained from members attending one of our world Tel. +32/2/646-6012 Tel. +1 905.507.0100 Tel. +98/21/8868 1652 Item No. ZPR001002 www.na-iran.org english_info about NA_8 x 14_2012.indd 2 7/14/2012 12:05:35 PM