Welcome to Narcotics Anonymous of NJ. Our Message Is…
That an addict, any addict can stop using drugs,
lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live.
Helpline
If you feel you have a problem with drugs, call our helpline
Events
See upcoming NA events and activities in NJ
Narcotics Anonymous is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We are recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other stay clean.
– Narcotics Anonymous Basic Text, page 9
Recovery from addiction is possible and available through the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Narcotics Anonymous.
Narcotics Anonymous is FREEDOM from active addiction.
Narcotics Anonymous is an international, community-based association of recovering drug addicts with over 61,000 weekly meetings in over 131 countries worldwide.
Just for Today
Most of us come to Narcotics Anonymous with a variety of preconceptions about what the word "God" means, many of them negative. Yet the "G" word is used very regularly in NA, if not constantly. It occurs 92 times in the first 102 pages of our Basic Text, and appears prominently in a third of our Twelve Steps. Rather than sidestep the sensitivity many of us feel toward the word, let's address it head on.
It's true that Narcotics Anonymous is a spiritual program. Our Twelve Steps offer a way to find freedom from addiction through the help of a spiritual Power greater than we are. The program, however, doesn't tell us anything about what we have to think about that Power. In fact, over and over again, in our literature and our meetings, we hear it said, "the God of our understanding"--whatever that understanding may be.
We use the word "God" because it's used in our Basic Text and because it communicates most effectively to most people a basic understanding of the Power underlying our recovery. The word, we use for the sake of convenience. The Power behind the word, however, we use for more than convenience. We use that Power to maintain our freedom from addiction and to ensure our ongoing recovery.
A Spiritual Principle a Day
If we imagine life to be like a hallway full of open doors, each leading down new paths of opportunity, then active addiction basically consists of walking down the hallway, kicking doors closed. Getting clean in NA and working the program allows us to explore new opportunities or revisit old possibilities we had closed off to ourselves in our addiction. Courage and humility make it possible.
The freedom to choose our own path can be scary. After all, if we make a choice for ourselves, we don't get to blame others if we're unhappy with the results! Each time we choose a new door to walk through--or a door to close behind us--we build courage to keep doing so. Actively making choices helps us to see that our Higher Power will be present in the process, even when the initial results aren't what we wanted. Perhaps we walk away from a relationship, home group, or job that we found unfulfilling, and then we find ourselves feeling lonely or lost afterward. We find a new partner, new group, new job--or maybe we go back to what we'd left--and our feelings change again. It's all temporary, and we always have more chances and choices coming our way.
Some of us change relationships, jobs, and home groups the way others change socks and undies, but if we don't get comfortable with ourselves, none of these external factors can keep us comfortable for long. Courage helps us walk through doors. Humility will help us embrace--or endure--what we find on the other side. Humility means knowing ourselves, faults and all. To be happy with our choices, we need to be honest with ourselves about who we are and what we need and want. The NA program helps us find the courage to make our own choices and the humility we need to live with the choices we make.
