This is a question every potential member must answer for themselves. It may help to read some of our informational pamphlets, starting with “Am I an addict?” and “Welcome to NA”.

If you’re an addict, NA can help. “Narcotics Anonymous offers recovery to addicts around the world. We focus on the disease of addiction rather than any particular drug. Our message is broad enough to attract addicts from any social class or nationality. When new members come to meetings, our sole interest is in their desire for freedom from active addiction and how we can be of help.” (It Works: How and Why, “Third Tradition”)

If you’re planning to attend your first meeting, you may also be interested in IP #29,“An Introduction to NA Meetings.”

I. Is NA for me ?

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. *

II. Am I an addict ? 

Only you can answer this question. This may not be an easy thing to do. All through our usage we told ourselves “I can handle it”. Even if this was true in the beginning, it is not so now. The drugs handled us  *

III. Is there hope for me ?

WE DO RECOVER 

When at the end of the road we find that we can no longer function as a human being, either with or without drugs, we all face the same dilemma. What is there left to do? There seems to be this alternative: either go on as best we can to the bitter ends—jails, institutions or death—or find a new way to live. In years gone by, very few addicts ever had this last choice. Those who are addicted today are more fortunate. For the first time in man’s entire history, a simple way has been proving itself in the lives of many addicts. It is available to us all. This is a simple spiritual—not religious—program, known as Narcotics Anonymous. *