NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS - nauca.us

1 NARCOTICSANONYMOUSF ifth EditionNARCOTICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, , CALIFORNIAFELLOWSHIPAPPROVEDFELLOWSHIPAP PROVEDT welve Steps and TwelveTraditionsreprinted for adaptation by permission ofAA World Services, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988 byNarcoticsAnonymousWorld Services, rights Service OfficePO Box 9999 Van Nuys, CA 91409 Tel. (818) 773-9999 Fax (818) 700-0700 Website: Service Office EUROPE48 Rue de l t B-1050 Brussels, BelgiumTel. +32/2/646-6012 Fax +32/2/649-9239 World Service Office CANADA150 Britannia Rd. E. Unit 21 Mississauga, Ontario, L4Z 2A4, CanadaTel.

2 (905) 507-0100 Fax (905) 507-0101 Published 1983. Second Edition 1983. Third Edition Edition (Revised) 1986. Fourth Edition 1987. Fifth Edition Basic Text published hardcover and softcover versions published 2005 and 2006 in the United States 06 70 69 68 67 66 65 ISBN 978-0-912075-02-0 (Hardcover)WSO Catalog Item No. EN-1101 ISBN 978-1-55776-025-8 (Softcover)WSO Catalog Item No. EN-1102 ISBN 978-1-55776-513-0 (20thAnniversary)WSO Catalog Item No. EN-1104 ISBN 978-1-55776-643-4 (Pocket-Sized Hardcover)WSO Catalog Item No.

3 EN-1105 ISBN 978-1-55776-674-8 (Pocket-Sized Softcover)WSO Catalog Item No. EN-1106 This is NA Fellowship-approved ,and The NA Wayare registered trademarks of NarcoticsAnonymousWorld Services, SymbolixPrefacexIntroductionxiiiBOOK ONE: NARCOTICS ANONYMOUSC hapter OneWho Is anAddict?3 Chapter TwoWhat Is theNarcoticsAnonymous Program?8 Chapter ThreeWhyAreWe Here?11 Chapter FourHow It Works14 Chapter FiveWhat Can I Do?43 Chapter SixThe Twelve Traditions ofNarcoticsAnonymous48 Chapter SevenRecovery and Relapse62 Chapter EightWe Do Recover70 Chapter NineJust for Today Living the Program74 Chapter TenMoreWill Be Revealed80 BOOK TWO: PERSONAL STORIESA Gift Called Life87If I Can Do It, So Can You91An Indian Without a Tribe96In Search of a Friend99I Was Unique102I Found a Home105If You Want What We Have108I Qualify113 Why Me?

4 Why Not Me?116 Jails, Institutions, and Recovery120 Fearful Mother123I Found the Meeting in the World127 Alien132A Little Girl Grows Up137It s Okay To Be Clean144 Nowhere To Turn147 Recovery Is My Responsibility153 Unmanageable156 How Do You Spell Relief?159 Physician Addict161 Part of the Solution166 Resentment at the World170 Mid-Pacific Serenity172 The Vicious Cycle177I Was Different179 Pothead!182I Can t Do Any More Time185 Fat Addict188 Early Services190I Felt Hopeless192I Kept Coming Back195It Won t Get Any Worse200My Gratitude speaks205No Excuse for Loneliness209 Relapse and Return217 Sick and Tired at Eighteen220 The War Is Over223Up from Down Under225 Index230 OUR SYMBOLS implicity is the key to our symbol; it imitates the simplicity of our Fel-lowship.

5 All sorts of occult and esoteric connotations can be found in itssimple outlines, but foremost in the minds of the Fellowship are easily un-derstood meanings and outer circle denotes a universal and total program that has roomwithin it for all manifestations of the recovering square, whose lines are defined, is easily seen and understood, butthere are other unseen parts of the symbol. The square base denotes Goodwill, the ground of both the Fellowship and the members of our will is best exemplified in service; proper service is Doing the rightthing for the right reason.

6 When Good will supports and motivates boththe individual and the Fellowship, we are fully whole and wholly free. Prob-ably the last to be lost to freedom will be the stigma of being an is the four pyramid sides that rise from the base in a three-dimen-sional figure that represent Self, Society, Service, and God. All rise to thepoint of Freedom. All parts are closely related to the needs and aims of theaddict who is seeking recovery, and to the purpose of the Fellowship whichis to make recovery available to all.

7 The greater the base, (as we grow inunity in numbers and in fellowship) the broader the sides of the pyramid,and the higher the point of ProgramUniversal Program FreedomFreedomSelfSelfPREFACE The full fruit of a labor of love lives in the harvest, and that alwayscomes in its right season .. The material for this book was drawn from the personal experiences of ad-dicts within the Fellowship of NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS . This Basic Text isbased on an outline derived from our white book, NARCOTICS first eight chapters are based on the topic headings in the white bookand carry the same title.

8 A ninth chapter has been included, Just for Today,as well as a tenth chapter, More Will Be Revealed. Following is a brief his-tory of the ANONYMOUS was formed in July 1953, with the first meetingheld in Southern California. The Fellowship grew erratically but quicklyspread to various parts of the United States. From the beginning, the needwas evident for a book on recovery to help strengthen the Fellowship. Thewhite book, NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS , was published in Fellowship still had little structure, however, and the 1960s were aperiod of struggle.

9 Membership grew rapidly for a time and then began todecline. The need for more specific direction was readily apparent. its maturity in 1972, when a World Service Office (WSO) wasopened in Los Angeles. The WSO has brought the needed unity and senseof purpose to the opening of the WSO brought stability to the growth of the Fellow-ship. Today, there are recovering addicts in thousands of meetings all acrossthe United States and in many foreign countries. Today the World ServiceOffice truly serves a worldwide ANONYMOUS has long recognized the need for a complete Ba-sic Text on addiction a book about addicts, by addicts and for effort was strengthened, after the formation of WSO, with the publi-cation of The Tree, a pamphlet on service work.

10 This pamphlet was theoriginal service manual of the Fellowship. It has been followed by subsequentand more comprehensive volumes, and now the Service manual outlined a service structure that included a World ServiceConference (WSC). The WSC, in turn, included a Literature the encouragement of WSO, several members of the Board of Trust-ees, and the Conference, work ixAs the cry for literature, particularly a comprehensive text, became morewidespread, the WSC Literature Committee developed. In October 1979,the first World Literature Conference was held in Wichita, Kansas, followedby conferences in Lincoln, Nebraska; Memphis, Tennessee; Santa Monica,California; Warren, Ohio; and Miami, WSC Literature Subcommittee, working in conference and as indi-viduals, has collected hundreds of pages of material from members andgroups throughout the Fellowship.