By:
Debbie H.
Clean A.I.R.

An NA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the NA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, or prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

We cannot afford our message to be blurred by the association with a treatment facility, clubhouse, church, etc. Treatment facilities and other organizations have their own agendas and desires to make a profit. Their message may or may not be in line with the NA program but it doesn’t matter. Newcomers are not able to understand or separate our message from that of a treatment center or church. Our program is a set of spiritual principles to be lived by that if limited, changed or restricted by an outside facility can destroy our message of inclusion. Many times in the past, the line between NA and treatment facilities and churches became blurred. We learned that it is important to keep our relationships with outside entities at an arm’s length to avoid conflicts of interest which can harm our ability to carry a message of recovery. Early in my recovery the treatment center I attended had NA meetings several nights a week, took us out to NA meetings and a majority of the addicts that stayed around after treatment attended NA. Many of the counselors attended NA. The relationship caused an affiliation by association. Later when the addicts who attended NA behaved badly after they left treatment, the facility blamed NA rather than the individual addict. As a result, the center decided not to send their clients to NA. This result harmed the newcomer and forced us to change our relationship with the facility. We had become too much a part of the place, we had to separate. Ultimately our primary purpose is to carry the message to the addict who still suffers. No outside entity of any sort should profit by using our name and blurring our message of hope. By adhering to this belief, we preserve the integrity of the Narcotics Anonymous program.