Bonfire Costume Party
Join us Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 7pm as Northwest Area Special Events hosts a free event! Please bring a chair as we gather around the bonfire, accompanied by free
Welcome to the Northwest Area of Narcotics Anonymous! We are a community of individuals who have come together to support one another in our journey of recovery from addiction. Our doors are open to anyone seeking a safe and supportive environment to begin or continue their path of recovery. We invite you to explore our website and learn more about the resources and events we offer. Together, we can overcome the challenges of addiction and find the strength to live a fulfilling, drug-free life.
When at the end of the road we find that we can no longer function as a human being, either with or without drugs, we all face the same dilemma. What is there left to do? There seems to be this alternative: either go on as best we can to the bitter ends—jails, institutions, or death—or find a new way to live. In years gone by, very few addicts ever had this last choice. Those who are addicted today are more fortunate. For the first time in man’s entire history, a simple way has been proving itself in the lives of many addicts. It is available to us all. This is a simple spiritual—not religious—program, known as Narcotics Anonymous.
Narcotics Anonymous (N.A.) 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. We have learned from our group experience that those who keep coming to our meetings regularly stay clean.
Addiction is a lonely disease. We may be surrounded by people but, sooner or later, our addiction drives a wedge between us and even our closest loved ones. Many of us are driven to Narcotics Anonymous by a desperate loneliness.
Though we may approach the rooms of NA with caution and suspicion, we are welcomed with a hug, a smile, and a warm "keep coming back." This may be the first place where we have felt welcome in a long, long while. We watch other members talking and laughing, leaving the meeting in groups for more talk at the local coffee shop. We wonder if we, too, could become a part of this loving bunch.
Our pattern of isolation can make it difficult for us to join in. Over time, however, we begin to feel "a part of" rather than "apart from." Soon, when we walk into the rooms, we feel at home. We begin to make friends and our lives start to change.
NA teaches us how to overcome our isolation. Through our first tentative friendships formed in our home group, we start to find that making friends isn't hard. A sense of belonging comes when we share ourselves with others.
The idea of a bunch of addicts sitting in a room together showing restraint sounds like the start of a bad joke, but, hey, recovery in NA is full of miracles! It's truly an achievement that we're able to create and sustain an atmosphere of recovery considering our individual and collective capacity for being distracted. Many of us have to work especially hard to sit with any degree of stillness and patience--and just be present--because of how our brains work or, of course, how new we are. And yes, there are many tools and avenues that may divert our attention from our primary purpose in a meeting--our smartphones, our fellow addicts, a noise outside, a technological glitch, a moment of boredom or overstimulation. Out of respect for the speaker, the newcomer, our group, and ourselves, we try to stay focused. Showing restraint in this manner is the respectful thing to do.
There are other times when our diversion is a sign of something deeper, and our tendency to deny or avoid our feelings gets ignited. Identifying with a member's share can be a lovely moment of connection, but it can also make us want to crawl out of our skin. We addicts seem to be allergic to discomfort, and yet pushing through it will often bring us to a place of more profound comfort--with ourselves and our surroundings. Glancing at our phone won't give us that. It does help to have some guidance here, as not all discomfort has that potential to be productive. We need a sponsor and other trusted NA members to help us distinguish between a moment when we should rein in our desire to scoot and stay with our feelings--and when we should honor our need to remove ourselves from a potentially harmful situation.
Join us Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 7pm as Northwest Area Special Events hosts a free event! Please bring a chair as we gather around the bonfire, accompanied by free
FREESTATE REGIONAL CONVENTION XXXI “KEYS TO FREEDOM!” NOVEMBER 28 – 30, 2025Hyatt-Regency Inner Harbor300 Light Street | Baltimore, Maryland ALL 5 MEALS including BANQUET $134.00Profits from last year lowered food
