The Cumberland-Salem Area of Narcotics Anonymous
Welcome to the Cumberland-Salem Area of Narcotics Anonymous.
Our area began Saturday, January 10, 1987 with its first NA meeting held by the Friday Night Enchantment Group in Millville NJ. Since then we have grown to over 20 groups and have meetings that are held every day of the week. Our area also has a number of sub-committees that provide additional services to our fellowship, the public, and to people in addiction related treatment facilities that cannot attend our meetings. This site was built to provide both addicts and non-addicts alike with some basic information about the Narcotics Anonymous program, who we are, what we do, and where we meet.
An Introduction to NA Meetings
If you’re planning to go to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting for the first time, it might be nice to know what to expect. The information here is meant to give you an understanding of what happens in our meetings. The words we use and the way we act might be unfamiliar to you at first, but hopefully this information can help you get the most out of your first NA meeting. If you show up early, stay late, and ask lots of questions before and after the meeting, you’ll probably get the most out of every meeting you attend.
Our Basic Text, Narcotics Anonymous, provides the best description of who we are and what we do: “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.” The Twelve Steps of NA are the basis of our recovery program. People have all sorts of reasons for attending NA meetings, but the reason for each meeting is to give NA members a place to share recovery with other addicts.
If you are not an addict, look for an open meeting, which welcomes non-addicts. If you’re an addict or think you might have a drug problem, we suggest a meeting every day for at least ninety days to get to know NA members and our program. NA literature is also a great source of information about our program. Our Basic Text (Narcotics Anonymous) or our recovery pamphlets are a good place to start. Most meetings offer pamphlets for free, while books are generally sold at the group’s cost.
What is the NA Program?
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.
There are no strings attached to NA. We are not affiliated with any other organizations. We have no initiation fees or dues, no pledges to sign, no promises to make to anyone. We are not connected with any political, religious, or law enforcement groups, and are under no surveillance at any time. Anyone may join us regardless of age, race, sexual identity, creed, religion, or lack of religion.
We are not interested in what or how much you used or who your connections were, what you have done in the past, how much or how little you have, but only in what you want to do about your problem and how we can help. The newcomer is the most important person at any meeting, because we can only keep what we have by giving it away. We have learned from our group experience that those who keep coming to our meetings regularly stay clean.