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
What was the worst aspect of active addiction? For many of us, it wasn't the chance that we might die some day of our disease. The worst part was the living death we experienced every day, the never-ending meaninglessness of life. We felt like walking ghosts, not living, loving parts of the world around us.
In recovery, we've come to believe that we're here for a reason: to love ourselves and to love others. In working the Twelve Steps, we have learned to accept ourselves. With that self-acceptance has come self-respect. We have seen that everything we do has an effect on others; we are a part of the lives of those around us, and they of ours. We've begun to trust other people and to acknowledge our responsibility to them.
In recovery we've come back to life. We maintain our new lives by contributing to the welfare of others and seeking each day to do that better--that's where the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Steps come in. The days of living like a ghost are past, but only so long as we actively seek to be healthy, loving, contributing parts of our own lives and the lives of others around us.
A Spiritual Principle a Day
A lot of us describe ourselves as having been spiritually asleep, bankrupt, or even dead before coming to NA. Some of us find immediate relief when we hear NA described as a spiritual program. We may not be fully willing to let go and dive into a new spiritual journey--or continue the one that we had been on before our addiction darkened the path--but the spark is there. Others of us do not take comfort in NA being a spiritual program. We may not know what the word "spiritual" means, especially as it relates to "religious" or "not religious." It may not feel authentic to describe ourselves as being on a spiritual path or even interested in pursuing one.
No matter what our beliefs are, or how open-minded we are to challenging them, we're all willing--to some degree--to show up for ourselves. At the start, we report for recovery duty because we're following suggestions made by other members and because it's making us better: meetings, Steps, sponsorship, a service commitment or two. We build a support system in NA, and we work on developing a relationship with a Higher Power. Our understanding of spiritual principles--and how we're already applying them to our recovery--expands.
Our willingness becomes more expansive, too. We continue to show up for our own healing and because we've made commitments. But our motivation to serve broadens when we follow suggestions to do so. A desire to contribute to NA and help other addicts slowly blooms within us, and we express it through service. This progress includes sharing about our awakening to the spiritual aspects of NA and our budding spiritual life.
Most of us become willing to let go of our ambivalent or negative preconceived feelings and ideas about spirituality. Though we don't fully understand our transformation, many of us eventually can describe ourselves as spiritually awake, enriched, or alive--in no small part because of our willingness to serve.
