June 2023 – One Addicts Experience

The Spiritual Foundation

Anonymity might be one of the most misunderstood words used regularly at meetings in Narcotics Anonymous. Two of the Twelve Traditions in NA specifically reference the word. At meeting after meeting, members recite the Twelve Traditions. People who are new sometimes struggle to pronounce the word and many members are patient as newcomers learn not only the pronunciation but the meaning. I liked this definition I found on the internet.

Anonymity, the basic definition of this term is “being without a name.” Simply understood someone is anonymous if his/her identity is not known. Psychologically speaking, being anonymous may be perceived as a reduction in the accountability for the actions performed by the person.
“Online Anonymity”, Sudhanshu Chauhan, Nutan Kumar Panda, in Hacking Web Intelligence, 2015

Tradition Eleven

Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.

I believe when some addicts hear the term ‘personal anonymity’ they think it relates to themselves. Self-obsession is the core of the disease, so that would be a natural conclusion but that is not a correct interpretation, in my opinion. Traditions are the basis of our Fellowship and Tradition Eleven clearly says ‘we need always maintain personal anonymity’, not ‘I’. My personal anonymity is my responsibility. I can choose to behave or act in any way I like, even if that might offend other members. I am proud of the person I am today and happy with my actions. Dictating beliefs or behaviors to other members is not a part of our Fellowship. The opposite of unity is oppression, so any attempts to enforce my personal beliefs on others affect the unity of the group. I was encouraged to join a Home Group and work out my differences with other members. Newcomers get to see regular members working through their differences. The road to understanding anonymity in Tradition Eleven starts with joining a Group or as many call it, a Home Group. Home Groups take on the responsibility of carrying the message by holding regular meetings that addicts can attend. Some are closed meetings for addicts only and others are open to the public. Everyone can carry a message to the public at an open meeting.

We, The Home Group

In my Home Group we learned about Tradition One, which asks us to put unity ahead of our personal recovery. We learn the value of ‘personal anonymity’ so that we protect other members which benefits Narcotics Anonymous. My actions on behalf of the Group reflect the desire to maintain anonymity. I try and put the needs of the Group ahead of my own. This is the nature of service. Rather than make assumptions about what the Group wants, I will seek direction by communicating with other members of the Group. Tradition Two says we arrive at a Group Conscience in our decision-making processes. These were hard lessons for me to learn but have become valuable in working with others.

I learned to appreciate it when members started identifying themselves as addicts rather than alcoholic addicts. Anonymity says we are all the same. Other addicts’ efforts to change and fit in were equally welcome. I never went to a treatment centre and I grow weary of hearing about what someone learned in a group workshop today. These simple steps towards anonymity by others helped me with the changes I needed to make. No amount of shaming, persecution or abuse seems to have much effect on my behaviors or the behavior of others. Anonymity ensures that a newcomer can identify with other group members. I strive to blend in, rather than stand out.

Conflict Resolution

When there are problems, we discuss them without making the discussion personal. How I speak reflects my desire to respect the anonymity of others. My questions can easily become a distraction if I put personalities ahead of the issues I raise. I learned about anonymity with the support of a Home Group. These lessons help me outside of NA in my personal life. It is particularly important when I carry the NA message to those outside our group.

Public Anonymity

This need for anonymity is important when dealing with the public. I learned the Traditions by having discussions with members and other groups. The wider the base of recovery, the higher the freedom from self-obsession. Growing our Fellowship is our primary purpose, which is achieved by attraction of the group, and not the individual. Any aspect of my life, regardless of how beneficial I find it, might not be attractive to others. Our diversity is our strength and that becomes evident at our meetings. Strong personalities can be a distraction for newcomers. I carry my experience, strength, and hope to members but not to the public. The adversity faced and overcome by some members is beneficial to other members but can be a distraction from the goal of attracting new members in the public. Governments, treatment centres, and organizations that promote recovery love to portrait individual success stories. A good story generates much needed attention and financial donations. Narcotics Anonymous recommends the opposite by simply attracting anyone who has a desire to stop using, regardless of their present circumstances or understanding of their disease. We offer a simple solution to those seeking help. Showcasing members or portraying a lifestyle might detract from the message. I dislike the Fellowship’s fascination with ‘Narcotics Anonymous’ conventions and would prefer we did not lend our name to these events. Conventions have become a distraction from being of service and our primary purpose. Those who promote them often talk about the unity created but there is little evidence of that in our service structures who continue to flounder with low attendance and little support.

Tradition Twelve

Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

It was an interesting thought when I read ‘Psychologically speaking, being anonymous may be perceived as a reduction in the accountability for the actions performed by the person.’ I wondered how this applied in my life and the definition fits for me today. I have tried very hard to reduce my will and replace it with my Higher Power’s will. When I take the Twelve Traditions into consideration in my life, then my actions as part of a Home Group become less about my personal desires and more about the Group. Someone who does not drink coffee might still make coffee for the group. It is these small acts of service that bring about unity and fellowship. With more than fifty or sixty thousand Narcotics Anonymous Groups worldwide, acting in unison, carrying a message to newcomers and supporting current members, the Fellowship continues to grow. A small number of groups support service structures but most Groups are predominately independent in carrying the message.

Tradition Four

Each Group should be autonomous, except in matters affecting other Groups, or N.A., as a whole.

The Narcotics Anonymous Fellowship becomes stronger as we put aside our personalities and adopt the principles contained within the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. Everyone learns the benefit of working together within a Group. When I struggle, I have learned the value of honest communication and listening with the intent to hear. As the years go by, my complacency increases, and I find I have to work hard to be a part of. Within a Group, we are completely autonomous, but part of our Traditions asks us to take on the responsibility of considering how our decisions will affect other groups or the whole of NA. Anonymity means I try not to offer judgement on what other groups do. Just like diversity benefits our membership in Groups, so does diversity benefit our various Home Groups. Some Groups sign verification papers and others oppose the practice. Anonymity means I can have opinions, express those opinions within my group but I am not the voice of the whole of NA. Anonymity helps direct service bodies as Tradition Nine says they should never govern, and Tradition Four ensures that service bodies are not part of NA.

Help Others, not Self Help

Service is the basis of my recovery in Narcotics Anonymous. ‘We meet regularly to help each other’ in our readings taught me that NA is not a self-help program but a help others program. My choices about lifestyle can detract from the message I carry. If I was to share about cancelling a much-needed vacation to Mexico because my sports car needs expensive repairs that might be upsetting to me but could detract from the unity. The same is true for the many blessings we find in recovery. When I share my experience, strength and hope, I need to be mindful of anonymity. How I deal with the day to day living better serves the Fellowship when I remember to put principles ahead of my personality.

A cured addict?

As a recovering addict who’s moved to a country where going to treatment is free, there seems to be more of a desire to live drug free lives free of an NA program than I’ve seen in other groups before. It appears to me that there’s an active culture of coming to meetings but never actually working a program, and moreover, many people stop going to Narcotics Anonymous or working a program once they start feeling good. Although it’s something that happens worldwide, I’ve personally never seen it affect the culture of meetings to this extent before.

I’ve struggled understanding the phenomena of stopping when it’s working. To gain understanding I’ve previously looked at it as a part of the self-destructive nature of our disease; “Any form of success was frightening and unfamiliar”, as cited from chapter three of our Basic Text. But I was just recently discussing this with another addict who gave me a new perspective on what I’d previously seen as just a self-defeating aspect of the nature of our disease. This addict suggested to me that it actually seems to be more of a reservation; the desire to live a ‘normal’ life. This ‘normal life’ free of needing what arrests our disease would let us go to work, study, have healthy relationships, a family, the car, without needing to put in work for it. In this reservation-shaped fantasy we wouldn’t need to surrender daily, to work on our recovery daily, but the good feelings would just naturally sustain themselves without effort. Although all reservations are self-defeating, this does look more like a reservation than just a manifestation of our self-defeating character. If we aren’t fully willing to accept what we need for our disease to be arrested, we’re not fully willing to accept our disease. We’re looking at the symptom of our disease – using drugs – as the problem, not us.

Treatment centers and the ‘cured’ addict

Now, knowing myself, to be fully honest about my defects of character; I’m resistant to treatment centers, and have my own preconceived notions and judgments. It’s hard for an addict not to. I’m sure it works for people and I’m really happy it does, it’s just not a part of my experience in recovery. Largely because it isn’t, I struggle with the idea of addicts coming to the Fellowship getting confused about institutions being necessary or even the way to get clean and find a new way of life, or getting confused about NA and institutions somehow being affiliated with each other, as our 6^th tradition couldn’t speak against any stronger.

In my experience, reflecting on the addicts who stop coming to NA when they start feeling good, the ones I’ve seen go through this process are addicts who’ve gone to treatment centers. I do want to say I don’t believe this reservation only comes up for addicts who’ve gone to treatment, I’m solely basing this on my experience. But it does beg the question… Does the setup of treatment centers suggest addicts can be cured?

I don’t know what addicts are taught in treatment centers outside of what’s been told to me by some, but the natural setup of a closed institution where you spend a set amount of time sets you up to believe that your problems can be solved during your stay. I believe the natural setup of this brings about an attitude and belief around the symptom of our disease, using drugs, being our actual disease and actual problem. If addicts aren’t taught what the disease actually is, it also makes reservations about what being an addict actually entails more natural to lapse into. I do know that a lot of treatment centers make addicts refer to themselves not as addicts but in terms of the liquid drug or the narcotics, putting a lot of focus on the symptom instead of the real problem. The spiritual nature of our disease also seems to get lost in treatment center conversations. And if we don’t treat a spiritual disease on a spiritual level, the solution isn’t really the full solution, and surrender becomes more of a conditional, place-based act than an unconditional attitude.

An aspect of our spiritual condition as we’re taught in the program is also keeping what we have by giving it away. For those only acquainted with treatment, the spiritual practice of this principle isn’t integrated into any kind of daily program. Many stay in our Fellowship partially to give back what they’ve received; and if you don’t perceive you got what you needed from NA, you won’t see a need to give it back. The spiritual rewards of giving back will also remain foreign to those who are unable or unwilling to open their minds to a spiritual solution, which further causes one to believe that the solution is just to stop using, not changing our actions, attitudes and lives on a deeper level.

The solution?

We don’t want addicts leaving when they feel good. We offer a proven way to live a new way of life, and there’s no set amount of time on living. Addiction can never be cured because it’s not about the use of drugs, but it can be arrested on a daily basis if we have the willingness to live the program.

I don’t believe there’s a clear-cut solution to this problem. We can’t force an addict to recover and to stay in NA, as our experience and the program tells us. What we can do is make our message clear in meetings, and make sure to pay attention to the newcomer and make ourselves available; we can show them what it’s all about. We should love and cherish every addict as a spiritual extension of ourselves and look at carrying a clear Narcotics Anonymous message as an act of love. We don’t want to lose anyone to outside ideas or their own reservations. Our own experience of the program, shared, is effective. I’ve also found meetings focused on the 6^th tradition to be effective in these scenarios.

If we let our message become lost in the whirlwind of treatment center arrivals, we’re doing everyone a disservice. I don’t believe we’ll ever see the day a fully cured addict knocks on our door, but we can make sure to keep our program clear and available for those who are willing to join us. If we reach out our hands, God will do the rest; whatever that looks like.

The Crescent and the Needle, withdrawn.

Originally published at www.12steprecovery.com

Narcotics Anonymous Iran. In 2014, John Lavitt wrote an article for a website called The Fix called “The Crescent and the Needle: The Remarkable Rise of NA in Iran.” This article is no longer available online, but excerpts can be found on other sites. {EDITOR’S NOTE – as of June 1, 2023 a copy of the original article is located at this link] It contained an overview of the rise of Narcotics Anonymous in Iran. There was faltering attempt in 1990 by a couple members but the Fellowship finally took hold in 1995. By 1998 Iran had translated and produced more than a half a dozen pieces of literature to Farsi and this likely accelerated the growth. In 2001, Iran reached out and made The NAWS Corporation aware of their existence. By 2003 The Corporation had established the fourth World Service Office in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Members of the World Board for the Corporation documented a trip to meet with members of the Fellowship in 2006. Iran was officially recognized as a seated participant at the World Service Conference in 2006 which allowed them to vote. The Iran Region grew very large. They were so dominant that Annual Reports produced by the NAWS Corporation gave information about Finances and Literature production highlighting Iranian figures separately. One difference is that groups generally meet daily in Iran, whereas in North America groups often meet weekly. In 2006, Iran had almost a 988 groups and almost 3,982 weekly meetings. North America had 17,324 groups hosted 26,419 meetings in 2008 and only showing small fluctuations in the last thirty years. There were 53,000+ meetings worldwide in 2008. 14,000+ of them were in Iran, or approximately 26% with zero growth in North America. Iran accounted for 30% of the sales of Basic Texts, and 50% of the sales of IP #22 (Welcome to NA) in 2008. What has transpired over the last 14 years is a mystery but in 2022, Iran Region has voted to separate itself from the NAWS Corporation and act autonomously.

This will have significant impact on the NAWS Corporation as Iran Region represents over 30% of the global Fellowship. There are a few indicators of the growing rift with the NAWS corporation. Anthony Edmondson, the Executive Director of the the NAWS Corporation admonished them for leaving and did not make any attempts to address their concerns in a letter dated June 28^th, 2022 (available for viewing on many recovery groups on social media).

In 2016, NAWS produced ‘Regional Summaries’ that contained a treasure trove of information about the Fellowships globally. The Iran Region reported 4,580 Groups and 20,598 meetings. 95% of funding came from Groups and Area.

Our tax status as an NGO [Ed. Non-Government Organization] in iran is not clear and is unknown to us. Some of the saying and or terms in our books and literature does not comply with our culture and we have asked na world service office in tehran to change them but no action has been taken so far.

There does not appear to be any discussion or action on this item. This was the last term for this Regional Delegate and the Alternate Delegate became the RD in 2018. Groups and meeting numbers were very similar, but Fellowship financial support had dropped to 80% of budget, and Literature profits now accounted for the remaining 20%.

‐ One our ASC separated from our region and declared that they are an independent region without any coordination and interaction with the RSC.

‐ Misuse of cyberspace to ruin the trusted servants in NA and spreading rumors and untrue news and also sending reports by some members before sent by delegates and secretary.

‐ Negative impact of some sponsors on their sponsees which results of in their incompatibility with the group conscience and ruin of trusted servants in NA, too.

The same Regional Delegate reported in 2020. Groups now numbered 5,512 and meetings were reported as 23,825. Fellowship financial support is no longer reported in regional summaries, but The RD Team reported that;

*We have not found effective remedies for the legal activities of buying and selling literature., *Poor member support for the basket of seventh tradition and higher cost of groups and thus less support for service committees. *Misuse of cyberspace to destroy trusted servants of NA and spread rumors and inaccuracies reports by some members before being sent by the secretaries. *Deciding part of one of the 29 areas to change their structure from area to region without coordination and interaction with NA‐IRAN and discussing many legal problems. *We do not have a precise statistics on the number of newcomer and how to attract them. we do not have a precise solution for the statistics.

It is difficult to fully understand the comments without some further investigation. ‘Legal activities of buying and selling literature’ could allude to the NAWS corporation practice of marking up literature to cover expenses rather than relying on membership donations. The comments also suggest a declining interest in membership support of the Seventh Tradition to be fully self-supporting off contributions, so it is safe to assume that NAWS Iranian operations were now increasing literature prices. The Iranian Government may have rules affecting how Non-profits are able to finance their operations. This will likely affect other regional bodies in other countries as well. The British Columbia [Canada] Region may require Groups to pay a Goods and Services Tax on literature as profits have exceeded the $50,000 limit imposed by the government.

Other Regions may follow Iran’s lead. Brazil is the second largest fellowship outside of North America with 1,604 groups and 4,659 meetings as of the 2020 Annual Report. For many years, Brazil produced a local Basic Text and paid a small royalty to the NAWS Corporation. Annual sales were reported at more than 15,000 books annually and as high as 41,000. Despite having a Brazilian World Board member, the NAWS Corporation reported annual sales for years of the locally published Brazilian Basic Text using the erroneous term of ‘Brazilian’ for the language term in annual reports. It’s a very simple mistake that many make but highlights that the NAWS Corporation had nothing to do with production. By 2014 they started correcting the annual reports with using the correct language term of ‘Portuguese’ and by 2015 a NAWS approved translation was available. Profits may have increased due to a higher price, but sales have declined steadily since the new approved book was made available and 2018 sales were 5,120. The primary purpose of a Narcotics Anonymous Group is to carry the message to the still suffering addicts regardless of the source of the literature. Literature prices clearly has a significant impact on the ability of Narcotics Anonymous to carry the message. This rift between the NAWS corporation and Iran will likely continue to grow to other geographical areas. Many groups in North America and Europe have continued the practice of producing local literature available for cost but operate under the looming threat of litigation by the NAWS corporation.