Narcotics Anonymous is a global, community-based organization with a multi-lingual and multicultural membership. NA was founded in 1953, and our membership growth was minimal during our initial twenty years as an organization. Since the publication of our Basic Text in 1983, the number of members and meetings has increased dramatically.
Today, NA members hold nearly 76,000 meetings weekly in 143 countries. We offer recovery from the effects of addiction through working a twelve-step program, including regular attendance at group meetings. The group atmosphere provides help from peers and offers an ongoing support network for addicts who wish to pursue and maintain a drug-free lifestyle.
Our name, Narcotics Anonymous, is not meant to imply a focus on any particular drug; NA’s approach makes no distinction between drugs including alcohol. Membership is free, and we have no affiliation with any organizations outside of NA including governments, religions, law enforcement groups, or medical and psychiatric facilities. Through all of our service efforts and our cooperation with others seeking to help addicts, we strive to reach a day when every addict in the world has an opportunity to experience our message of recovery in his or her own language and culture.
This site is hosted by the NA Greater New Brunswick Area Service Committee of New Jersey. We serve recovering addicts in this area and those who are visiting this area. If you need meeting information for other areas of New Jersey, visit Narcotics Anonymous of New Jersey. If you are looking for help beyond New Jersey, visit Narcotics Anonymous. If you are someone who is seeking recovering from active addiction in our area, attend our meetings and visit our subcommittee page to see how you can get involved.
If you serve one of our meetings and you have a meeting update, click on “Contact” and complete our form.
Events & Announcements
Learn about upcoming events, group anniversaries, and meeting updates.
Find A Meeting
Find an Narcotics Anonymous meeting in the Greater New Brunswick Area.
Area Service Committee
Our Area Service Committee carries the message of NA recovery in our community.
NA Literature
Access NA pamphlets and purchase literature from NA World Service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn about NA and what you can expect at an NA meeting.
Subcommittees
Learn about our subcommittees and how NA members can get involved.
“What is our message? The message is that an addict, any addict,
Basic Text, page 65
can stop using drugs, lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live.
Our message is hope and the promise of freedom.”
Just For Today Meditation
July 20, 2026 |
Step One |
| Page 210 |
| “We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.” |
| Step One |
| The First Step begins with “we,” and there’s a reason for that. There is great strength in making a verbal admission of our powerlessness. And when we go to meetings and make this admission, we gain more than personal strength. We become members, part of a collective “we” that allows us, together, to recover from our addiction. With membership in NA comes a wealth of experience: the experience of other addicts who have found a way to recover from their disease. No longer must we try to solve the puzzle of our addiction on our own. When we honestly admit our powerlessness over our addiction, we can begin the search for a better way to live. We won’t be searching alone–we’re in good company. |
| Just for Today: I will start the day with an admission of my powerlessness over my addiction. I will remind myself that the First Step starts with “we,” and know that I never have to be alone with my disease again. |
| Copyright (c) 2007-2026, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
Spiritual Principle A Day
July 20, 2026 |
Forgiveness Sets Us Free |
| Page 208 |
| “Forgiving is its own reward. We start to find peace within ourselves. When we are free of guilt, shame, and resentment, our minds can be still.” |
| Living Clean, Chapter 7, “Love” |
| Self-righteous indignation used to be its own reward. We were uplifted by our intolerance of other points of view. Mad rage was addictive. No one was going to stop us from reaping its choice benefits: isolating ourselves from others, a free pass to gossip, fortifying our side against the person who wronged us–and, of course, a thousand more reasons to get high. A member shared, “Why would I want to forgive when that adrenaline rush of righteous anger felt so damn good?” But what do we really gain by being “right”? It’s a distraction from the real problem. All the hard work we put into staying angry at others could be used to improve ourselves. And like drugs, that initial rush of self-righteous indignation wears off–exposing the shame and guilt lurking below the surface. “I needed more, just to stay well,” the member continued. “A thousand hits of justified anger just weren’t enough.” We end up alone obsessing about our guilt, shame, and resentments, stoking a fire of fixation no one is tending to but us. Through the process of recovery, we can let go of reacting to every injustice we experience (or think we do). That’s a bit of relief right there. Beyond that, we seek to forgive and do the work required to let go of resentments. The rewards are far more satisfying and long lasting. We become more content with minding our own business and less inclined to keep tabs on the behavior of others. We actively try to love them instead–or at least try to understand them. And a lot can be said for off-loading the resentments we’ve lugged around forever. There’s so much freedom in that. There’s lightness and even some ease in walking through life. For many of us, forgiving others does get easier over time, not least because we have experienced its rewards. “I know what it’s like to be imprisoned in a deep, dark hole of anger and self-righteousness,” the member went on. “But freedom ain’t free–and a lot of times the price of freedom is forgiveness.” |
| Who in my life have I forgiven or at least started to–and what has that been like? How might my life be different if I continue down this path? |
| Copyright (c) 2007-2026, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved |