NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS
NARCOTICSANONYMOUSALLO WSHPPROVEEIPFFifth EditionDNARCOTICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.CHATSWORTH, CALIFORNIA
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditionsreprinted for adaptation by permission of AA World Services, Inc.Copyright 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988 byNarcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.All rights reserved.World Service OfficePO Box 9999Van Nuys, CA 91409Tel. (818) 773-9999Fax (818) 700-0700Website: www.na.orgWorld Service Office–EUROPE48 Rue de l’ ÉtéB-1050 Brussels, BelgiumTel. 32/2/646-6012Fax 32/2/649-9239World Service Office–CANADA150 Britannia Rd. E. Unit 21Mississauga, Ontario, L4Z 2A4, CanadaTel. (905) 507-0100Fax (905) 507-0101Published 1983. Second Edition 1983. Third Edition 1984.Third Edition (Revised) 1986. Fourth Edition 1987. Fifth Edition 1988.20th Anniversary Basic Text published 2003.Pocket-sized hardcover and softcover versions published 2005 and 2006 respectively.Printed in the United States of America.07 0670 69 68 67 66 65ALLO WSHPPROVEEWSO Catalog Item No. EN-1101WSO Catalog Item No. EN-1102WSO Catalog Item No. EN-1104WSO Catalog Item No. EN-1105WSO Catalog Item No. EN-1106IPFISBN 978-0-912075-02-0 (Hardcover)ISBN 978-1-55776-025-8 (Softcover)ISBN 978-1-55776-513-0 (20th Anniversary)ISBN 978-1-55776-643-4 (Pocket-Sized Hardcover)ISBN 978-1-55776-674-8 (Pocket-Sized Softcover)DThis is NA Fellowship-approved literature.Narcotics Anonymous,and The NA Wayare registered trademarks of Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Incorporated.
CONTENTSOur SymbolixPrefacexIntroductionxiiiBOOK ONE: NARCOTICS ANONYMOUSChapter OneWho Is an Addict?3Chapter TwoWhat Is theNarcotics Anonymous Program?8Chapter ThreeWhy Are We Here?11Chapter FourHow It Works14Chapter FiveWhat Can I Do?43Chapter SixThe Twelve Traditions ofNarcotics Anonymous48Chapter SevenRecovery and Relapse62Chapter EightWe Do Recover70Chapter NineJust for Today—Living the Program74Chapter TenMore Will Be Revealed80
BOOK TWO: PERSONAL STORIESA Gift Called Life87If I Can Do It, So Can You91An Indian Without a Tribe96In Search of a Friend99I Was Unique102I Found a Home105If You Want What We Have108I Qualify113Why Me? Why Not Me?116Jails, Institutions, and Recovery120Fearful Mother123I Found the OnlyN.A. Meeting in the World127Alien132A Little Girl Grows Up137It’s Okay To Be Clean144Nowhere To Turn147Recovery Is My Responsibility153Unmanageable156How Do You Spell Relief?159Physician Addict161Part of the Solution166Resentment at the World170Mid-Pacific Serenity172The Vicious Cycle177
I Was Different179Pothead!182I Can’t Do Any More Time185Fat Addict188Early Services190I Felt Hopeless192I Kept Coming Back195It Won’t Get Any Worse200My Gratitude speaks205No Excuse for Loneliness209Relapse and Return217Sick and Tired at Eighteen220The War Is Over223Up from Down Under225Index230
OUR SYMBOLSimplicity is the key to our symbol; it imitates the simplicity of our Fel-lowship. All sorts of occult and esoteric connotations can be found in itssimple outlines, but foremost in the minds of the Fellowship are easily understood meanings and relationships.The outer circle denotes a universal and total program that has roomwithin it for all manifestations of the recovering person.The square, whose lines are defined, is easily seen and understood, butthere are other unseen parts of the symbol. The square base denotes Goodwill, the ground of both the Fellowship and the members of our society.Good will is best exemplified in service; proper service is “Doing the rightthing for the right reason.” When Good will supports and motivates boththe individual and the Fellowship, we are fully whole and wholly free. Probably the last to be lost to freedom will be the stigma of being an addict.It is the four pyramid sides that rise from the base in a three-dimensional figure that represent Self, Society, Service, and God. All rise to thepoint of Freedom. All parts are closely related to the needs and aims of theaddict who is seeking recovery, and to the purpose of the Fellowship whichis to make recovery available to all. The greater the base, (as we grow inunity in numbers and in fellowship) the broader the sides of the pyramid,and the higher the point of freedom.vi
ServiceodGodGlfFreedom Universal ProgramUniversal Program
PREFACE“The full fruit of a labor of love lives in the harvest, and that alwayscomes in its right season “The material for this book was drawn from the personal experiences of ad-dicts within the Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous. This Basic Text isbased on an outline derived from our “white book,” Narcotics Anonymous.The first eight chapters are based on the topic headings in the white bookand carry the same title. A ninth chapter has been included, Just for Today,as well as a tenth chapter, More Will Be Revealed. Following is a brief history of the book.Narcotics Anonymous was formed in July 1953, with the first meetingheld in Southern California. The Fellowship grew erratically but quicklyspread to various parts of the United States. From the beginning, the needwas evident for a book on recovery to help strengthen the Fellowship. Thewhite book, Narcotics Anonymous, was published in 1962.The Fellowship still had little structure, however, and the 1960s were aperiod of struggle. Membership grew rapidly for a time and then began todecline. The need for more specific direction was readily apparent. N.A.demonstrated its maturity in 1972, when a World Service Office (WSO) wasopened in Los Angeles. The WSO has brought the needed unity and senseof purpose to the Fellowship.The opening of the WSO brought stability to the growth of the Fellowship. Today, there are recovering addicts in thousands of meetings all acrossthe United States and in many foreign countries. Today the World ServiceOffice truly serves a worldwide Fellowship.Narcotics Anonymous has long recognized the need for a complete Basic Text on addiction—a book about addicts, by addicts and for addicts.This effort was strengthened, after the formation of WSO, with the publication of The N.A. Tree, a pamphlet on service work. This pamphlet was theoriginal service manual of the Fellowship. It has been followed by subsequentand more comprehensive volumes, and now the N.A. Service Manual.The manual outlined a service structure that included a World ServiceConference (WSC). The WSC, in turn, included a Literature Committee.With the encouragement of WSO, several members of the Board of Trustees, and the Conference, work began.viii
Preface ixAs the cry for literature, particularly a comprehensive text, became morewidespread, the WSC Literature Committee developed. In October 1979,the first World Literature Conference was held in Wichita, Kansas, followedby conferences in Lincoln, Nebraska; Memphis, Tennessee; Santa Monica,California; Warren, Ohio; and Miami, Florida.The WSC Literature Subcommittee, working in conference and as individuals, has collected hundreds of pages of material from members andgroups throughout the Fellowship. This material has been laboriously catalogued, edited, assembled, dismembered and reassembled. Dozens of areaand regional representatives working with the Literature Committee havededicated thousands of man-hours to produce the work presented here. Butmore importantly, those members have conscientiously sought to ensure a“group conscience” text.In keeping with the spirit of anonymity, we, the WSC Literature Subcommittee, feel it appropriate to express our special gratitude and appreciation to the Fellowship as a whole, especially the many who contributedmaterial for inclusion in the book. We feel that this book is a synthesis ofthe collective group conscience of the Fellowship and that every single ideasubmitted is included in the work in some form or another.This volume is intended as a textbook for every addict seeking recovery. As addicts, we know the pain of addiction, but we also know the joyof recovery we have found in the Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous. Webelieve the time has come to share our recovery, in written form, with allwho desire what we have found. Appropriately, this book is devoted toinforming every addict:JUST FOR TODAY, YOU NEVER HAVE TO USE AGAIN!Therefore,With gratitude in our recovery, we dedicate our N.A. book to the loving service of our Higher Power. That through the development of a conscious contact with God, no addict seeking recovery need die without achance to find a better way of life.We remain trusted servants in gratitude and loving service,LITERATURE SUBCOMMITTEEWORLD SERVICE CONFERENCENARCOTICS ANONYMOUS
xiiNarcotics AnonymousWe cannot change the nature of the addict or addiction.We can help to change the old lie “Once an addict, always anaddict,” by striving to make recovery more available.God, help us to remember this difference.
INTRODUCTIONThis book is the shared experience of the Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous. We welcome you to read this text, hoping that you will choose toshare with us the new life that we have found. We have by no means founda cure for addiction. We offer only a proven plan for daily recovery.In N.A., we follow a program adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous.More than one million people have recovered in A.A., most of them just ashopelessly addicted to alcohol as we were to drugs. We are grateful to theA.A. Fellowship for showing us the way to a new life.The Twelve Steps of Narcotics Anonymous, as adapted from A.A., are thebasis of our recovery program. We have only broadened their perspective.We follow the same path with a single exception; our identification as addicts is all-inclusive with respect to any mood-changing, mind-altering substance. Alcoholism is too limited a term for us; our problem is not a specificsubstance, it is a disease called addiction. We believe that as a fellowship,we have been guided by a Greater Consciousness, and are grateful for thedirection that has enabled us to build upon a proven program of recovery.We come to Narcotics Anonymous by various means and believe thatour common denominator is that we failed to come to terms with our addiction. Because of the variety of addicts found within our Fellowship, weapproach the solution contained within this book in general terms. We praythat we have been searching and thorough, so that every addict who readsthis volume will find the hope that we have found.Based on our experience, we believe that every addict, including thepotential addict, suffers from an incurable disease of body, mind, and spirit.We were in the grip of a hopeless dilemma, the solution of which is spiritual in nature. Therefore, this book will deal with spiritual matters.We are not a religious organization. Our program is a set of spiritualprinciples through which we are recovering from a seemingly hopeless stateof mind and body. Throughout the compiling of this work, we have prayed:“GOD, grant us knowledge that we may write according to Your Divineprecepts. Instill in us a sense of Your purpose. Make us servants of Yourwill and grant us a bond of selflessness, that this may truly be Yourwork, not ours—in order that no addict, anywhere, need die from thehorrors of addiction.”xi
xiiNarcotics AnonymousEverything that occurs in the course of N.A. service must be motivatedby the desire to more successfully carry the message of recovery to the addict who still suffers. It was for this reason that we began this work. Wemust always remember that as individual members, groups and servicecommittees, we are not and should never be in competition with each other.We work separately and together to help the newcomer and for our common good. We have learned, painfully, that internal strife cripples our Fellowship; it prevents us from providing the services necessary for growth.It is our hope that this book will help the suffering addict find the solution that we have found. Our purpose is to remain clean, just for today,and to carry the message of recovery.
Who Is an Addict? 3CHAPTER ONEWHO IS AN ADDICT?Most of us do not have to think twice about this question. WE KNOW! Ourwhole life and thinking was centered in drugs in one form or another—thegetting and using and finding ways and means to get more. We livedto use and used to live. Very simply, an addict is a man or woman whose lifeis controlled by drugs. We are people in the grip of a continuing andprogressive illness whose ends are always the same: jails, institutionsand death.Those of us who have found the Program of Narcotics Anonymous do nothave to think twice about the question: Who is an addict? We know! Thefollowing is our experience.As addicts, we are people whose use of any mind-altering, mood-changing substance causes a problem in any area of life. Addiction is a diseasethat involves more than the use of drugs. Some of us believe that our disease was present long before the first time we used.Most of us did not consider ourselves addicted before coming to theNarcotics Anonymous Program. The information available to us came frommisinformed people. As long as we could stop using for a while, we thoughtwe were all right. We looked at the stopping, not the using. As our addiction progressed, we thought of stopping less and less. Only in desperationdid we ask ourselves, “Could it be the drugs?”We did not choose to become addicts. We suffer from a disease thatexpresses itself in ways that are anti-social and that makes detection, diagnosis and treatment difficult.Our disease isolated us from people except when we were getting, using and finding ways and means to get more. Hostile, resentful, self-centeredand self-seeking, we cut ourselves off from the outside world. Anythingnot completely familiar became alien and dangerous. Our world shrankand isolation became our life. We used in order to survive. It was the onlyway of life that we knew.3
4Narcotics AnonymousSome of us used, misused and abused drugs and still did not considerourselves addicts. Through all of this, we kept telling ourselves, “I canhandle it.” Our misconceptions about the nature of addiction included visions of violence, street crime, dirty needles and jail.When our addiction was treated as a crime or moral deficiency, we became rebellious and were driven deeper into isolation. Some of the highsfelt great, but eventually the things that we had to do to continue using reflected desperation. We were caught in the grip of our disease. We wereforced to survive any way that we could. We manipulated people and triedto control everything around us. We lied, stole, cheated and sold ourselves.We had to have drugs regardless of the cost. Failure and fear began to invade our lives.One aspect of our addiction was our inability to deal with life on life’sterms. We tried drugs and combinations of drugs to cope with a seeminglyhostile world. We dreamed of finding a magic formula that would solveour ultimate problem—ourselves. The fact was that we could not use anymind-altering or mood-changing substance, including marijuana and alcohol, successfully. Drugs ceased to make us feel good.At times, we were defensive about our addiction and justified our rightto use, especially when we had legal prescriptions. We were proud of thesometimes illegal and often bizarre behavior that typified our using. We“forgot” about the times when we sat alone and were consumed by fearand self-pity. We fell into a pattern of selective thinking. We only remembered the good drug experiences. We justified and rationalized the thingsthat we did to keep from being sick or going crazy. We ignored the timeswhen life seemed to be a nightmare. We avoided the reality of our addiction.Higher mental and emotional functions, such as conscience and the ability to love, were sharply affected by our use of drugs. Living skills werereduced to the animal level. Our spirit was broken. The capacity to feelhuman was lost. This seems extreme, but many of us have been in this stateof mind.We were constantly searching for the answer—that person, place orthing that would make everything all right. We lacked the ability to copewith daily living. As our addiction progressed, many of us found ourselvesin and out of institutions.These experiences indicated that there was something wrong with ourlives. We wanted an easy way out. Some of us thought of suicide. Ourattempts were usually feeble and only helped to contribute to our feelings
Who Is an Addict? 5of worthlessness. We were trapped in the illusion of “what if,” “if only”and “just one more time.” When we did seek help, we were only lookingfor the absence of pain.We had regained good physical health many times, only to lose it byusing again. Our track record shows that it is impossible for us to use successfully. No matter how well we may appear to be in control, using drugsalways brings us to our knees.Like other incurable diseases, addiction can be arrested. We agree thatthere is nothing shameful about being an addict, provided we accept ourdilemma honestly and take positive action. We are willing to admit without reservation that we are allergic to drugs. Common sense tells us that itwould be insane to go back to the source of our allergy. Our experienceindicates that medicine cannot cure our illness.Although physical and mental tolerance play a role, many drugs requireno extended period of use to trigger allergic reactions. Our reaction to drugsis what makes us addicts, not how much we use.Many of us did not think that we had a problem with drugs until thedrugs ran out. Even when others told us that we had a problem, we wereconvinced that we were right and the world was wrong. We used this belief to justify our self-destructive behavior. We developed a point of viewthat enabled us to pursue our addiction without concern for our own wellbeing or the well-being of others. We began to feel that the drugs were killing us long before we could ever admit it to anyone else. We noticed thatif we tried to stop using, we couldn’t. We suspected that we had lost control over the drugs and had no power to stop.Certain things followed as we continued to use. We became accustomedto a state of mind that is common to addicts. We forgot what it was likebefore we started using; we forgot about social graces. We acquired strangehabits and mannerisms. We forgot how to work; we forgot how to play;we forgot how to express ourselves and how to show concern for others.We forgot how to feel.While using, we lived in another world. We experienced only periodicjolts of reality or self-awareness. It seemed that we were at least two peopleinstead of one, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We ran around and tried to getour lives together before our next run. Sometimes we could do this verywell, but later, it was less important and more impossible. In the end, Dr.Jekyll died and Mr. Hyde took over.
6Narcotics AnonymousEach of us has a few things that we never did. We cannot let these thingsbecome excuses to use again. Some of us feel lonely because of differencesbetween us and other members. This feeling makes it difficult to give upold connections and old habits.We all have different tolerances for pain. Some addicts needed to go togreater extremes than others. Some of us found that we had enough whenwe realized that we were getting high too often and it was affecting ourdaily lives.At first, we were using in a manner that seemed to be social or at leastcontrollable. We had little indication of the disaster that the future held forus. At some point, our using became uncontrollable and anti-social. Thisbegan when things were going well, and we were in situations that allowedus to use frequently. This was usually the end of the good times. We mayhave tried to moderate, substitute or even stop using, but we went from astate of drugged success and well-being to complete spiritual, mental andemotional bankruptcy. This rate of decline varies from addict to addict.Whether it occurs in years or da
narcotics anonymous fifth edition narcotics anonymous world services, inc. chatsworth, california f e l l o w s h i p a p pr o v e d
The In Times of Illness booklet was app roved by the World Service Conference in 1992. Since its publication, members throughout . literature that may help, too. Basic concepts we can learn through working the steps and core spiritual principles of our program . Narcotics Anonymous.
Wisconsin Region of Narcotics Anonymous BMLT Tutorial BMLT stands for Basic Meeting List Toolbox. The BMLT is a complete Web-based NA Meeting List that will work with existing or new NA Web sites. The BMLT is already in use by hundreds of NA Service bodies around the world.
language Narcotics Anonymous (Basic Text), Step Working Guides , and It Works: How and Why available in an audio format. Motion #15 Instruct the World Board to develop a project plan for the 2022 World Service Co nference (WSC) to produce an informative video about Narcotics Anonymous, for Public Rela
language Narcotics Anonymous (Basic Text), Step Working Guides , and It Works: How and Why available in an audio format. Motion #15 Instruct the World Board to develop a project plan for the 2022 World Service Co nference (WSC) to produce an informative video about Narcotics Anonymous, for Public Rela
Feb 16, 2020 · NARCOTICS NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS ANONYMOUS Help is available for anyone with a drug problem. Support groups and other resources are available for addicts and their families. Call your local NA Hotline—Berkshire County: 413-443-4377 or www.berkshirena
Tidewater Area Hot Line -8467 Narcotics Anonymous No fees Narcotics Anonymous Regional Hot Line 1-800-777-1515 Support group for recovering sub-stance abusers. No fees Hampton Roads Clinic Reflections -8430 Outpatient Counsel-ing I.V. Methadone Maintenance 3045 day Residen-tial
experience affirm that "we have never seen a person who lives the Narcotics Anonymous program relapse." Many members come back from a relapse and enjoy long-term recovery. For more information about relapse, see the chapter in the Basic Text, Narcotics Anonymous, titled "Recovery and Relapse" or the
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