Materials reprinted from the Little White Booklet, Narcotics Anonymous.

© 1986 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc., PO Box 9999, Van Nuys, CA 91409

ISBN 0-912075-65-1 • V2.5 02-02-24 • NOONERS.ORG

INSTRUCTIONS:
Tap or click the “Section Titles,” “Prayers,” and “Dividers” (* * * * *)
to automatically move the text to the top of the window.
Tap or Click “Welcome to Nooners” below to begin.

Welcome to the Nooners meeting of Narcotics Anonymous.

My name is ____ and I’m an addict and your secretary.

Please help me open the meeting with a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer.

Narcotics Anonymous is a program of complete abstinence from all drugs. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using.

The newcomer is the most important person at any meeting because we can only keep what we have by giving it away. We’d like to extend a special welcome to newcomers. If you are new to NA or in your first 30 days of recovery, please introduce yourself by first name.

Are there any newcomers here today?

Any visitors from outside the area?

And now we will call upon individuals to read the Narcotics Anonymous Group Readings aloud.

I’ve asked someone to read: “Who is an Addict?”

Most of us do not have to think twice about this question. We know! Our whole life and thinking was centered in drugs in one form or another—the getting and using and finding ways and means to get more. We lived to use and used to live. Very simply, an addict is a man or woman whose life is controlled by drugs. We are people in the grip of a continuing and progressive illness whose ends are always the same: jails, institutions, and death.

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.

If you want what we have to offer, and are willing to make the effort to get it, then you are ready to take certain steps. These are the principles that made our recovery possible:

1. We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

This sounds like a big order, and we can’t do it all at once. We didn’t become addicted in one day, so remember — easy does it.

There is one thing more than anything else that will defeat us in our recovery; this is an attitude of indifference or intolerance toward spiritual principles. Three of these that are indispensable are honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness. With these we are well on our way.

We feel that our approach to the disease of addiction is completely realistic, for the therapeutic value of one addict helping another is without parallel. We feel that our way is practical, for one addict can best understand and help another addict. We believe that the sooner we face our problems within our society, in everyday living, just that much faster do we become acceptable, responsible, and productive members of that society.

The only way to keep from returning to active addiction is not to take that first drug. If you are like us you know that one is too many and a thousand never enough. We put great emphasis on this, for we know that when we use drugs in any form, or substitute one for another, we release our addiction all over again.

Thinking of alcohol as different from other drugs has caused a great many addicts to relapse. Before we came to NA, many of us viewed alcohol separately, but we cannot afford to be confused about this. Alcohol is a drug. We are people with the disease of addiction who must abstain from all drugs in order to recover.

Have any newcomers joined since we opened the meeting? If so please introduce yourself now by first name only.

This meeting is being held using Zoom, a 3rd-party video platform. NA can not guarantee your anonymity as it pertains to data collected by the Zoom company.

We ask that Zoom Chat be used solely for technical support and for the exchange of phone numbers after the meeting.

Also, in order to maintain an atmosphere of recovery, we request that you please keep activities such as vaping, smoking, and eating off camera, as they may be triggers for some members. Thank you.

The literature of Narcotics Anonymous provides the foundation and inspiration for our recovery. All NA pamphlets and books are available online as digital files that can be downloaded and viewed on phones, tablets, and computers.

Links to these materials, and to the official NA site for purchasing hardcover books, have been placed in the Zoom Chat, and can also be found on the Nooners homepage:

NOONERS.ORG

For Alameda County Narcotics Anonymous news, meeting schedules, and support, please visit the

NAALAMEDACOUNTY.ORG

website, or call the NA 24/7 phone line at:

510-444-HOPE

510-444-4673

In NA we celebrate clean-time anniversaries. At Nooners we acknowledge these during the last full week of each month.

If you have a recovery milestone to celebrate, please join us then.

The 7th Tradition states that:

Every NA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

Your contributions support this group, the area group, and the Narcotics Anonymous world-wide organization.

To make a donation, visit:

NOONERS.ORG/DONATE

Are there any NA-related announcements? If so, please raise your hand so I can call on you.

If you would like to provide anonymous comments or suggestions regarding the Nooners Meeting, use the digital “Suggestion Box” link on the Nooners home page:

NOONERS.ORG

If you require attendance verification, please use the “Suggestion Box” on the Nooners home page and enter:

• Your full name
• Your email address
• Today’s date
• The name of today’s secretary. My name is ________.

A trusted servant will send an email to the provided address containing your attendance verification.

We’ll begin “open sharing” in a moment.

The group conscience of this meeting is that there be no cross-talk. “Cross-talk” is giving advice to others who have already shared, speaking directly to another person rather than to the group, or interrupting the person sharing.

Please remember to un-mute yourself before you share, and then re-mute yourself after you share.

This group uses a timer to limit shares to 4 minutes. We’ll let you know when your sharing-time is finished.

If you want to share please raise your hand now using Zoom’s “raise-hand” function, or if you’re calling from a phone, type STAR-9. ( * 9 )

I’ll do my best to call on members in order.

Please listen for your name and begin speaking when called upon by first introducing yourself, followed by the share of your own experience, strength, and hope.

The meeting is now open for sharing. (at 12:45 go to next section)

Our literature reminds us that “newcomers” are the most important people at any meeting. So every day, we provide the opportunity for any newcomers to share their thoughts, or just introduce themselves to the group.

Are there any newcomers who wish to share at this time?

If there are no more newcomers who wish to share at this time, we can resume “open sharing” for those who haven’t yet spoken.

That’s all the time we have, but we always have time for a “Burning Desire.” This is a time for those who think they may use if they are not able to share.

Are there any “Burning Desires?”

(Last week of the month)(Click to Skip)

In Narcotics Anonymous we recognize and celebrate clean-time anniversaries during the last week of the month.

Since today is in the last week of the month, I’ll countdown the clean-time categories.

If you are celebrating an anniversary, and your clean time category has been called out, please unmute and introduce yourself, and tell us how much clean time you are celebrating.

• Is anyone celebrating 10 years or more?
• Is anyone celebrating 2 to 9 years?
• Is anyone celebrating 18 months?
• Is anyone celebrating 1 year?
• Is anyone celebrating 9 months?
• Is anyone celebrating 6 months?
• Is anyone celebrating 90 days?
• Is anyone celebrating 60 days?
• Is anyone celebrating 30 days?
• Would anyone like to pick up a “virtual” White Chip to join us in living a new way of life?

Congratulations to everyone who celebrated, and to all of us for joining in a fellowship of support and encouragement.

(Sing if you like!)

The Narcotics Anonymous message is:

Any addict can stop using,
lose the desire to use,
and find a new way to live.

If you are new, we suggest that you attend 90 meetings in 90 days, get a sponsor, and don’t use no matter what!

We’ll keep this meeting open for 10 minutes and invite you to stay and communicate with each other.

May I have a show of hands of anyone who is working the Steps and would be willing to speak to anyone here after the meeting?

Again, we welcome newcomers and encourage you to keep coming back.

I’ve asked someone to read: Just for Today

Tell yourself:

• JUST FOR TODAY my thoughts will be on my recovery, living and enjoying life without the use of drugs.

* * * * *

• JUST FOR TODAY I will have faith in someone in NA who believes in me and wants to help me in my recovery.

* * * * *

• JUST FOR TODAY I will have a program. I will try to follow it to the best of my ability.

* * * * *

• JUST FOR TODAY, through NA, I will try to get a better perspective on my life.

* * * * *

• JUST FOR TODAY I will be unafraid. My thoughts will be on my new associations, people who are not using and who have found a new way of life. So long as I follow that way, I have nothing to fear.

Please join me in closing this meeting with a moment of silence followed by the Third Step Prayer.

Many of us have said:

Keep coming back, it works if you work it!

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