The first formal, printed NA literature that was published in California was a small buff colored pamphlet, which appeared in 1956. Very few copies of this pamphlet survive. The following is an accurate copy of the text of that pamphlet.

(front cover)

NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS
P.O. Box 1043
Studio City, California

(text)

This booklet is dedicated to those who suffer from narcotics and sedation addiction. We, in
Narcotics Anonymous, otter no cure, but we can honestly, positively, show you a way out, a
way to quit using.

DO YOU NEED NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS?
You do if you are an addict.
Are you an addict?
Ask yourself these questions. Answer them as honestly as you can.
1. Do you loose time from work due to "using"?
2. Is "using" making your home life unhappy?
3. Do you "fix" because you are shy with other people?
4. Is "using" affecting your reputation?
5. Have you ever felt remorse after "fixing"?
6.Have you ever gotten into financial difficulties as a result of
"using"?
7.Do you turn to lower companions and an inferior environment when
"using"?
8. Does your "using" make you careless of your family's welfare?
9. Has your ambition decreased since "using"?
10. Do you crave a "fix" at a definite time daily?
11. Do you want a "fix" the next morning?
12. Does "using" cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
13. Has your efficiency decreased since "using"?
14. Is "using" jeopardizing your job or business?
15. Do you "fix" to escape from worries or trouble?
16. Do you "fix" alone?
17. Have you ever had a complete loss of memory as a result of "using"?
18. Has your physician ever treated you for "using"?
19. Do you "fix" to build up your self-confidence?
20. Have you ever been to a hospital or institution on account of
"using"?
* * *
If you answered YES to any one of these questions, you may be an addict
If you answered YES to any two of the questions, chances are you are an
addict
If you answered YES to three or more then you are an addict beyond doubt

WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Absolutely nothing, unless you are convinced you must do something about it, and sincerely
want to do something about it.
If you sincerely want to stop using, we in Narcotics Anonymous, who suffered from the same
addiction, and who are now arrested cases and living a new way of life, have a program that
will show you the way out. We can't offer you a cure, because neither you nor we will ever be
cured of addiction. But like us, you can become an arrested case. You can stop using and start
living.
WHAT IS THE NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS PROGRAM?
Narcotics Anonymous is an absolutely non-profit-making fellowship and is connected with no
police, political, or religious organization. There are no initiation fees, no dues, no charges of
any kind. There are no pledges to sign. Any one may join, regardless of age, race, color or
religion. We are not interested in what you used, how much, or who your connections were. All
we ask is that you have the sincere, honest desire to stop using.
We of Narcotics Anonymous are exactly like you. We are a group of addicts who meet
regularly to help each other obtain arid maintain our sobriety and to stay clean.
Before coming on the program, our trouble was we could not manage our own lives. We
couldn't live like normal people. We had to have something different and we thought we had
found it in drugs and narcotics. We got so we had to have these drugs arid narcotics no matter
what the cost. We placed their use ahead of the welfare of our families, wives and children.
We did them great harm, but most of all, we harmed our selves. We broke not only the laws or
society but the greatest law of all - the law of nature.
We were running away, that was our real problem, for the use of drugs and narcotics is but a
symptom of underlying causes. We used in order to escape facing life and its problems. We
realized we were slowly committing suicide, but such cunning enemies of life are drugs and
narcotics that we had lost the power to do anything about it
Jail did us no good. Medicine and psychiatry had no answers for us. Everything else having
failed, in desperation we sought help from each other, in Narcotics Anonymous.
Here, we have come to realize we are not moral lepers. We are simply sick people. We suffer
from a disease, just like alcoholism, diabetes, tuberculosis, heart trouble or cancer. There is no
known cure for these diseases and neither is there for drug addiction. But by following a
pattern derived from Alcoholics Anonymous and its teachings, we have become arrested
cases. We found out how to live a life free from the uses of narcotics and sedation. We have
stopped using. We have learned how to live.
Here is how we did it. These are the steps we took, and they are the steps we suggest for
anyone who sincerely wants to stop using.
1.We admitted 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
understand 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 whenever 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 understand Him, praying only for knowledge of his will for us and
the power to 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.
* * *
Does this sound like a big order?
We don’t expect you to do it overnight. You didn't become addicted in one day. "Easy does it"
We suggest you begin a program of recovery by taking Step One. Admit you are powerless
over drugs, that your life has become unmanageable. It you are in a jail or hospital, you have
gone through complete withdrawal and have stopped using for the time being. Upon release,
tell yourself you will not use today. It is most important you get in touch with a member of
Narcotics Anonymous or attend a meeting of Narcotics Anonymous at once. It you are not in a
jail or hospital, the same thing holds true: Stop using for today.
If the compulsion becomes so great you can't see going through a whole day, then put yourself
on a five minute basis of not using.
After five minutes, do it for another five minutes.
Minutes will grow into hours, hours into days. Quitting for one day, then another, will
eventually help you break the habit.
Go from Step One to Step Two. Then to Step Three. You do it by stages, first thing first. By
constant attendance at Narcotics Anonymous meetings, you will find answers to the questions
that may be disturbing you now.

OUR PRAYER
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.


JUST FOR TODAY

Tell yourself:
JUST FOR TODAY my thoughts will be on my recovery, living and enjoying life without the
use of narcotics.
JUST FOR TODAY I will have faith in someone in Narcotics Anonymous who believes in me
and wants to help me to 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 Narcotics Anonymous, 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 of life, even
for today, I have nothing to fear.
(inside rear cover)

For information regarding time and place
of Narcotics Anonymous meetings, write to:

NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS
P.O. Box 1043
Studio City, Calif.

NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS
P.O. Box 13023
So. Eastern Station
San Diego, Calif.
 
 

The NA Tree

This was the first service document that was produced for N.A. Service. Instead of posting the whole document on one page, it has been split into sections. Hopefully, this will enable you to load it quicker, and to be able to print the parts you want, instead of the entire document, if you so desire. Just follow the links below!

Section One

This section contains the first part of the Tree, the Letter to the Fellowship, Dedication, Our NA Symbol, and the Introduction.  

Section Two

This section contains the Twelve Traditions. 

Section Three

This section contains the sections on the Member, and the Group. 

Section Four

This section contains the section on Area Service Committees.
Section Five

This section contains the section on Regional Service Committees.
Section Six

This section contains the section on World Services.