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
When we were using, few of us could tolerate looking someone in the eye--we were ashamed of who we were. Our minds were not occupied with anything decent or healthy, and we knew it. Our time, money, and energy weren't spent building loving relationships, sharing with others, or seeking to better our communities. We were trapped in a spiral of obsession and compulsion that went only in one direction: downward.
In recovery, our journey down that spiral path has been cut short. But what is it that has turned us around, drawing us back upward into the open spaces of the wide, free world? The love of the fellowship has done this.
In the company of other addicts, we knew we would not be rejected. By the example of other addicts, we were shown how to begin taking a positive part in the life around us. When we were unsure which way to turn, when we stumbled, when we had to correct a wrong we'd done, we knew our fellow members were there to encourage us.
Slowly, we've gotten the feel of our freedom. No longer are we locked up in our disease; we are free to build and grow and share along with everyone else. And when we need support to take our next step, it is there. The security we've found in the love of the fellowship has made our new lives possible.
A Spiritual Principle a Day
The "attraction, rather than promotion" that's evident in the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous is often what keeps us coming back in early recovery. If we smelled promotion, it would be a major turnoff. Many of us may start out skeptical, but desperation forces us to pay close attention. At first, the Steps, as read in "How It Works" at many meetings, may not resonate--they're not what we had in mind as our solution. But the stories we hear, the warmth we experience, takes hold.
Witnessing recovering addicts being their full selves is remarkable and absorbing, and it keeps us coming back. Someone identifies themselves as brand-new--"This is my first meeting ever"--and receives a genuine, hospitable welcome. A member celebrates two years clean, made so precious by the fact that it took way longer than that for them to reach this milestone. Another shares their story of losing connection to NA due to family responsibilities and then rekindling their bond to the Fellowship, thanks to members staying in touch. Others speak about their addictive relationship with food, sex, or money, and about illness, loss, or lapses in judgment that have ugly consequences. And many others talk honestly about their struggles with stuff we can't control: a psycho first date, a mean boss, traffic, and the weather.
We are paying attention to all these stories, their unique threads and common messages--and their shared solutions often found in the Twelve Steps. When we work the Steps to the best of our ability, they help us undergo the profound change that allows us to stay clean and more free from the self-centered fear that can bog us down. But that's never to discount the importance of all the hard-won experience and wisdom we pick up from other members. Recovery isn't just what happens on our own with our stepwork. It's what we hear, see, and feel from each other. It's all of the elements of the program in concert.
