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
Few of us have any interest in "recovering" what we had before we started using. Many of us suffered severely from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Getting high and staying high seemed like the only possible way to cope with such abuse. Others suffered in less noticeable but equally painful ways before addiction took hold. We lacked direction and purpose. We were spiritually empty. We felt isolated, unable to empathize with others. We had none of the things that give life its sense and value. We took drugs in a vain attempt to fill the emptiness inside ourselves. Most of us wouldn't want to "recover" what we used to have.
Ultimately, the recovery we find in NA is something different: a chance at a new life. We've been given tools to clear the wreckage from our lives. We've been given support in courageously setting forth on a new path. And we've been given the gift of conscious contact with a Power greater than ourselves, providing us with the inner strength and direction we so sorely lacked in the past.
Recovering? Yes, in every way. We're recovering a whole new life, better than anything we ever dreamed possible. We are grateful.
A Spiritual Principle a Day
Many of us were fine with living a philosophy of "act now, ask questions later" in our addiction. We did what we had to do--the footwork of using, perhaps--and had a certain degree of faith within the chaos of that lifestyle. But we don't necessarily bring those bold tactics into early recovery. Why then is it so difficult for many of us to have faith and get on board with NA from day one? Maybe it's that we didn't know what we wanted. We thought we'd found what we wanted in drugs, but total abstinence seemed unlikely and long-term recovery unfathomable. Yes, we want a better life, but who doesn't?
It's suggested we go to meetings. Help set up the room. Read the book. Call a member when we're feeling squirrelly. Ask someone to be our sponsor so they can take us through those unfathomable Twelve Steps. We also think, This works for you, but what if it doesn't for me? And why do you seem so sure it will?
A lot of us would say the reasons are evident. Here are a bunch of addicts who didn't use today, who set up and ran a meeting that started and ended on time. They shared their experience, strength, and hope. They griped about their day but stayed clean anyway. They were joyful with each other, celebrating recovery milestones with gratitude. When speaking, most expressed their faith in the program and in each other.
At some point, we made a decision to do the footwork without a clear picture of our destination. Why? Some of us are so desperate we'll do anything to stop the pain. For others, it's a lightning-bolt spiritual awakening, a moment of clarity. Some of us take tiny steps or have many moments of clarity. Others find a single person to trust, and that drives our decision. Still others cling to our rebelliousness and then find ourselves celebrating a year clean, then five years, then a quarter-century. No matter what kicks it off, this decision is, for many of us, our first experience of faith. We hear that more will be revealed, and more is.
