When two or more addicts come together to help each other stay clean, they may form a Narcotics Anonymous group. Here are six points based on our traditions, which describe an NA group:

1. All members of a group are drug addicts, and all drug addicts are eligible for membership.
2. As a group, they are self-supporting.
3. As a group, their single goal is to help drug addicts recover through application of the Twelve Steps of Narcotics Anonymous.
4. As a group, they have no affiliation outside Narcotics Anonymous.
5. As a group, they express no opinion on outside issues.
6. As a group, their public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion.

In stating the six points that differentiate an NA group from other kinds of groups, we place greater emphasis on drug addiction than almost anywhere else in our service literature. This is because Narcotics Anonymous groups cannot be all things to all people and still provide the initial identification drug addicts need to find their way to recovery. By clarifying our groups’ sole membership requirement and primary purpose in this way, once and for all, we free ourselves to focus on freedom from the disease of addiction in the bulk of our service literature, certain that our groups are providing adequate grounds for identification to those seeking recovery.

Some groups host a single weekly meeting; others host a number of meetings each week. The quality of an NA meeting is directly dependent on the strength and solidarity of the NA group, which sponsors it. NA groups—not NA meetings—are the foundation of the NA service structure.

Together, the NA groups are responsible for making service decisions that directly affect them and what they do in their meetings, as well as those that fundamentally affect the identity of Narcotics Anonymous.

The primary purpose of an NA group is to carry the message of recovery to the addict who still suffers. The group provides each member with the opportunity to share and to hear the experience of other addicts who are learning to live a better way of life without the use of drugs. The group is the primary vehicle by which our message is carried. It provides a setting in which a newcomer can identify with recovering addicts and find an atmosphere of recovery.

Sometimes specialized NA groups form to provide additional identification for addicts with particular needs in common. For example, many men’s, women’s, gay, and lesbian groups exist today. But the focus of any NA meeting—even if it’s conducted by a specialized group—is on recovery from addiction, and any addict is welcome to attend.

* Excerpt from A Guide to Local Services IN Narcotics Anonymous 2002 Version, Copyright © 1989, 1997 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved. Published in the USA.

** The six points describing a group have been adapted from “The AA Group,” published by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Reprinted by permission.