About NA
An addict, any addict, can stop using drugs.
Narcotics Anonymous is a global, community-based organisation with a multi-lingual and multicultural membership. NA was founded in 1953 and today has over 70,000 weekly meetings in 144 countries.
What is NA?
A fellowship of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem.
Narcotics Anonymous is a nonprofit fellowship — there are no fees or dues for membership. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using.
NA is not affiliated with any other organisations, has no opinion on outside issues, and does not wish to engage in any controversy. NA neither endorses nor opposes any causes.
Members learn from one another how to live drug-free and recover from the effects of addiction in their lives. NA's approach to recovery is through a 12-step programme, including regular attendance at group meetings.
History
Where NA came from.
Narcotics Anonymous grew out of the Alcoholics Anonymous programme of the early 1950s. The first NA group was started in Los Angeles, California in 1953 by Jimmy Kinnon and others who felt that a programme specifically for drug addicts — not just alcoholics — was needed.
For many years NA grew slowly, with only a handful of groups in the United States. The publication of the NA Basic Text in 1983 marked a turning point. The book — written entirely by recovering addicts — gave the fellowship a clear identity and a programme of recovery that spoke directly to the experience of addiction.
Today, NA is one of the world's most widely known and respected recovery organisations. In the UK, NA has been active since the 1980s and now holds hundreds of meetings every week across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
"The message is simple: an addict, any addict, can stop using drugs, lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live."
How It Works
Recovery through fellowship and the Steps.
Meetings
NA members gather regularly — in person and online — to share their experience, strength, and hope. Meetings are free, open to anyone with a desire to stop using, and held every day across the UK.
Sponsorship
A sponsor is a recovering addict who guides a newcomer through the 12 Steps. The relationship is personal, voluntary, and built on shared experience — not professional advice.
The Steps
The 12 Steps are a set of principles for living. Working through them with a sponsor helps members address the root causes of addiction and build a new way of life.
Fellowship
Recovery in NA is not a solo journey. The fellowship — the community of members — provides connection, accountability, and belonging. Many members say the relationships they found in NA saved their lives.
The Programme
The 12 Steps of Narcotics Anonymous
The 12 Steps are a set of guiding principles for recovery. They are worked with a sponsor, at the member's own pace, and form the foundation of the NA programme.
We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.
We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
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.
Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practise these principles in all our affairs.
Narcotics Anonymous helps people find recovery from addiction through support, shared experience, and regular meetings. In NA meetings, addicts help each other stay clean one day at a time by sharing honestly, offering support, and showing that recovery is possible. Across the world, NA brings people together in hope and fellowship. While NA does not keep exact numbers of members in recovery, it is active in more than 145 countries with over 77,000 meetings each week, helping many thousands of addicts live clean.
Ready to take the first step?
You don't need to have it all figured out. Just show up. NA meetings are free, confidential, and open to anyone with a desire to stop using.