Narcotics Anonymous Service Structures

Narcotics Anonymous World Services Corporation (NAWS) publish a Conference Agenda Report (CAR) to prepare members, groups and service bodies for the World Service Conference (WSC).  Groups are the front line of Narcotics Anonymous and they hold regular meetings to carry a message of hope to suffering addicts. New members and returning members are encouraged to support each other by joining a group and attending meetings regularly. Millions of addicts worldwide have found hope and recovery within the Fellowship of NA since its inception in 1953.  The WSC began in 1971 and was designed to bring groups together to make decisions about the future of Narcotics Anonymous. The WSC that exists today bears no resemblance to the early conferences and has very little to do with the true nature of the program of Narcotics Anonymous. The 192-page, 2023 CAR report would make an Amway Executive blush at the lies and shameless self-promotion of the NAWS Corporation. The reality is that it is very rare for either a member or group to participate in the WSC that exists today. The NAWS Corporation uses the unity that exists in Narcotics Anonymous to promote itself. The facts presented in those 192 pages perpetuate the fraud. 

Groups and Meetings

Groups often come together to form Area service bodies within a certain geographical area. Area Service Bodies come together to form regional service bodies. Many regional service bodies are defined by the political boundaries the groups they represent are in (Hawaii Region or Nebraska Region are two examples in North America). Further abroad, regions are often defined by the country of origin.  Regional bodies will send a representative to the WSC to participate in the voting on motions presented. Voting is easy today since the NAWS Corporation also publishes a Conference Approval Track so WSC attendees know how to vote. Independent thought and action are discouraged by the Cult of NAWS. What is never discussed is how little support there is from members and groups. NAWS supporters are a very small segment of the fellowship and only maintain visibility by using the huge profits generated by literature sales to promote themselves. Regular WSC attendees report that there are some Regional Delegates who vote without ever consulting with the Groups they alleged to serve. Blank tally sheets for recording votes can downloaded from the NAWS corporation but completed tally sheets are a closely guarded secret and rarely published. The most important goal of the NAWS Corporation is the protection of the publishing rights and the profits associated with publishing. Today, there is increasing number of independent publishing by groups. There is also access to free literature online. This has forced the NAWS Corporation to manipulate and control every aspect of the Fellowship in order to maintain their financial privileges’.

How many actual Narcotics Anonymous Groups exist is unknown but regional summaries have provided the following estimate.

Groups are encouraged to register with the NAWS Corporation and receive a Group ID Number. Online, virtual, and telephone Groups have existed for more than two decades but been rejected by the WSC and the NAWS Corporation.  There are no rules, guidelines or policies that differentiate face to face meetings from other types of meetings but division is an effective tool of cults and has resulted in yet another dividing point created by the NAWS Corporation.  Some estimates suggest that there are more than five thousand virtual Narcotics Anonymous Groups currently. The contribution of virtual groups during the last three years has been enourmous. During the global pandemic these groups supported members and carried a message to suffering addicts worldwide. Virtual groups have become a mainstay of the Fellowship. I would estimate that one third of face-to-face meetings have closed and online meetings are becoming standard practice with many addicts.

The end is near…

The Iran Region recently broke ties with the WSC and the NAWS Corporation. They have decided to work independently and produce their own literature.  This region was easily the largest region to have ever existed. They represented almost five thousand groups who hosted twenty thousand meetings. Many groups in Iran host daily meetings but in the US a weekly meeting is typical. The average for US Regions is two hundred and fifty groups and three hundred and fifty meetings. It would not be a surprise to see other regions follow suit in the years ahead. The Brazil Region sales of books dropped to less than a third after switching to NAWS Corporate literature pricing model. The South Florida Region found discrepancies in a limited inspection of the NAWS Corporation but that avenue of accountability will be closed after the revised ‘Fellowship Intellectual Property Trust’ is approved at the next WSC.

Tradition two of Narcotics Anonymous ensures that the ultimate authority is the group conscience that home group members freely participate in. While researching and writing my book ‘Cult of NAWS’, I came across a section from the 1980 WSC minutes. Chuck Skinner was a respected and long-time member of NA, who presided as Chair of the Board of Trustees. He was asked what should happen to groups who failed to participate in area service bodies.  Chuck’s direction was very clear; remove them from meeting lists, notify them to cease and desist, and contact World Services to take legal action if required. This kind of mindset continues today, and members will cry foul and talk about ‘the conscience of the Fellowship’ when questions arise that go against the Cult of NAWS. There is a growing Fellowship of members who promote kindness, compassion, and generosity in carrying out their goal of supporting members new and old without the governance of corrupt service structures.