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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 legal and illegal 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 associations. 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 their own language and culture. This website is the contribution by members living in Ventura County towards that worldwide effort.
We are not alone, you are not alone.
The Narcotics Anonymous message is “that an addict, any addict, can stop using drugs, lose the desire to use and find a new way to live.”
NA 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. This is a program of complete abstinence from all drugs. There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using. We suggest that you keep an open mind and give yourself a break. Our program is a set of principles written so simply that we can follow them in our daily lives. The most important thing about them is that they work.
October 23, 2026 |
Surrender |
| Page 309 |
| "By surrendering control, we gain a far greater power." |
| Basic Text, p. 44 |
| When we were using, we did everything we could to run things our way. We used every scheme imaginable to bring our world under control. When we got what we wanted, we felt powerful, invincible; when we didn't, we felt vulnerable, defeated. But that didn't stop us--it only led to more efforts to control and manipulate our lives into a manageable state. Scheming was our way of denying our powerlessness. As long as we could distract ourselves with our plans, we could put off accepting that we were out of control. Only gradually did we realize that our lives had become unmanageable and that all the conning and manipulating in the world was not going to put our lives back in order. When we admit our powerlessness, we stop trying to control and manage our way to a better life--we surrender. Lacking sufficient power of our own, we seek a Power greater than ourselves; needing support and guidance, we ask that Power to care for our will and our lives. We ask others in recovery to share their experience with living the NA program instead of trying to program our own lives. The power and direction we seek is all around us; we need only turn away from self to find it. |
| Just for Today: I will not try to scheme and manipulate my way to a manageable life. Through the NA program, I will surrender myself to my Higher Power's care. |
| Copyright (c) 2007-2026, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
October 24, 2026 |
Conscience and Step Ten |
| Page 307 |
| "We need to stay in tune with the voice of our conscience and listen to what it's telling us. When we get a nagging feeling that something isn't quite right, we should pay attention to it." |
| It Works, Step Ten |
| Thanks to the NA program, our days of justifying our own bad behavior are mostly behind us. Sure, we still make mistakes, sometimes big ones, but we're quicker to clean up our messes. Instead of doubling down or making excuses when we lash out or self-destruct, we let our missteps remind us that we remain acutely human and in need of regular spiritual maintenance. "That's the thing about being in recovery, innit?" a member shared. "I'm aware of myself and the world around me. When I screw up, I can't pretend that everything's hunky-dory--though sometimes I still try." A short memory can seem like an appealing proxy for a clear conscience. It's not. Too often this leads us to reach for new distractions to help us forget. Fortunately--though it may sometimes seem otherwise--we can't un-know what we know about ourselves. We recognize our part in all of our difficulties and can spot our shortcomings even as they appear in new disguises. Try as we might to shut down and soldier on, we've developed a conscience. Instead of waiting for a 3:00 am wake-up call from our conscience, Step Ten offers us a way to stay clear and current. We get into--and sometimes, get back to--the habit of regular reflection, taking the time to stay in tune with the internal gauge of our conscience. We examine our behavior with empathy, asking ourselves, "Have I treated others as I would like to be treated?" We tell ourselves the truth, taking note of when we've responded admirably and where we need to work out a better approach for next time. Cultivating a conscience is a by-product of this practice, and living a conscience-guided life is worth the effort. |
| I will live according to my conscience today, taking time to develop it further as I reflect on my mistakes and enjoy the good that comes from living by my values. |
| Copyright (c) 2007-2026, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved |