WHAT IS NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS?

N.A. is a non-profit 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. This is a program of complete abstinence from all drugs. There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using.

Anyone may join us regardless of age, race, sexual identity, creed, religion or lack of religion. NA is not affiliated with any outside organization. We have a policy of co-operation not affiliation. We attempt to be helpful with other organizations, fellowships, and agencies within the guidelines of our Traditions

Narcotics Anonymous is an international, community-based association of recovering drug addicts with more than 58,000 weekly meetings in over 131 countries worldwide.

Development
Narcotics Anonymous sprang from the Alcoholics Anonymous Program of the late 1940s, with meetings first emerging in the Los Angeles area of California, USA , in the early Fifties. The NA program started as a small US movement that has grown into one of the world’s oldest and largest organizations of its type.

For many years, NA grew very slowly, spreading from Los Angeles to other major North American cities and Australia in the early 1970s. In 1983, Narcotics Anonymous published its self-titled Basic Text book, which contributed to tremendous growth. Within a few years, groups had formed in Brazil , Colombia , Germany , India , the Irish Republic, Japan , New Zealand , and the United Kingdom .

Today, Narcotics Anonymous is well established throughout much of the Americas , Western Europe, Australia , and New Zealand . Newly formed groups and NA communities are now scattered throughout the Indian subcontinent, Africa, East Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. (As a point of interest one of the fastest growing regions in the world at the present time is Iran .) Narcotics Anonymous books and information pamphlets are currently available in 27 languages, with translations in process for 16 languages.

In Wyoming, Narcotics Anonymous meetings began in the early 1980’s in Casper and Cheyenne spreading to the other smaller towns. WY was once part of the Upper Rocky Mountain Regional service committee and included the state of Montana. In the early 90’s Montana formed their own region and WY with the south western portion of Nebraska became the Upper Rocky Mountain Region.

Currently in Wyoming and south western Nebraska, there are over 100 meetings a week in 21 cities and towns. We have five Area Service Committees, one in each corner of the state and one central in Casper serving the groups within their geographical locations and a regional service committee that serves our five areas.  (Refer to Regional meeting list)

WHO ATTENDS NA MEETINGS

Membership demographics
To offer some general informal observations about the nature of the membership and the effectiveness of the program the following observations are believed to be reasonably accurate.

The socioeconomic strata represented by the NA membership vary from country to country. Members of one particular social or economic class start most national NA movements, but as their outreach activities become more effective, the membership becomes more broadly representative of all socioeconomic backgrounds.

All ethnic and religious backgrounds are represented among NA members. Once a national movement reaches a certain level of maturity, its membership generally reflects the diversity or homogeneity of the background culture.

Membership in Narcotics Anonymous is voluntary; no attendance records are kept either for NA’s own purposes or for others. Because of this, it is sometimes difficult to provide interested parties with comprehensive information about NA membership. There are, however, some objective measures that can be shared based on data obtained from members attending one of our world conventions; the diversity of our membership, especially ethnic background, seems to be representative of the geographic location of the survey. The following demographic information was revealed in a survey returned by almost half of the 13,000 attendees at the 2003 NA World Convention held in San Diego, California:

·       Gender: 55% male, 45% female.

·      Age: 3% 20 years  old and under, 12% 21–30 years old, 31% 31–40 years old, 40% 41–50 years old, 13% over age 51, and 1% did not answer.

·      Ethnicity: 70% Caucasian, 11% African-American, 11% Hispanic, and 8% other.

·      Employment status: 72% employed full-time, 9% employed part-time, 7% unemployed, 3% retired, 3% homemakers, 5% students, and 1% did not answer.

·      Continuous abstinence/recovery: ranged from less than one year up to 40 years, with a mean average of 7.4 years.

In Narcotics Anonymous, members are encouraged to comply with complete abstinence from all drugs including alcohol. It has been the experience of NA members that complete and continuous abstinence provides the best foundation for recovery and personal growth. NA as a whole has no opinion on outside issues, including prescribed medications. Use of psychiatric medication and other medically indicated drugs prescribed by a physician and taken under medical supervision is not seen as compromising a person’s recovery in NA.

Rate of growth
Because no attendance records are kept, it is difficult to estimate what percentages of those who come to Narcotics Anonymous remain active in NA over time. The only sure indicator of the program's success is the rapid growth in the number of registered Narcotics Anonymous meetings in recent decades and the rapid spread of Narcotics Anonymous outside North America.

·         In 1978, there were fewer than 200 registered groups in three countries.

·         In 1983, more than a dozen countries had 2,966 meetings.

·         In 1993, 60 countries had over 13,000 groups holding over 19,000 meetings.

·         In 2002, 108 countries had 20,000 groups holding over 30,000 meetings.

·         In 2005, there are over 21,500 registered groups holding over 33,500 weekly meetings in 116 countries.

·         In 2007, there are over 43,900 weekly meetings in 127 countries speaking 65 languages.

Contacting the regional service committee

There are several ways to contact the service committee. On the internet at www.urmrna.org and email the web servant urmrna@urmrna.org or send us a letter. Send to: Upper Rocky Mountain Regional Service Committee or URMRSC, PO Box 40182, Casper, WY 82604.

 

 

Public Information for the professionals and the public

Regional Service Meeting Information

The next regional service meeting will be held in the Central Wyoming Area and will be in Casper on Saturday February 4th, at 1002 E. L Street. Our service workshop will start early on Saturday morning at 9 am where the delegates will present the CAR to the RCM's, and the service committee will soon follow.

Printable Regional Meeting List