Autonomous Region
of Narcotics Anonymous
“The Autonomous Region of Narcotics Anonymous (ARNA) is a Regional Service Committee serving its members in a spirit of love and cooperation.”
Who is ARNA?
ARNA is a Region of Narcotics Anonymous that is a Non-Administrative Outreach Service Structure, which consists of the Region and the Group. ARNA knows that an NA group must give up their group autonomy to become a one service body instead of an individual group. Therefore, ARNA does not use the Twelve Concepts to Rule, Censor, Decide, Dictate, Govern, or Control individual NA groups. ARNA Outreach does not have a hidden Agenda to encourage groups to control each other by voting to arrive at a Group Consensus under the disguise of Group Conscience that robs each group of its Creative Freedom.
ARNA recognizes that NA literature is any literature written by an addict for addicts (take what you like and leave the rest). ARNA respects Tradition Six, so it does not censor what literature a group chooses with two exceptions – using literature, speakers, and announcements from other fellowships in a meeting is not NA; also, any literature that violates or contradicts the NA 12 Steps and/or 12 Traditions is not NA. We believe that our NA literature is the greatest literature in the world to aid the recovering addicts in getting an active change in our attitudes, ideas, and behavior. Part of our services includes printing free Narcotics Anonymous Literature wherever there is none, to be given freely to still suffering addicts in Jails and all over the World.
Originally, the ARNA Region was formed to support a petition to put our fellowship intellectual property trust (FIPT) in a safe place. How do we define a safe place? A safe place is a place that does not carry the Narcotics Anonymous name, that does not abuse the integrity of our literature in support of the Drug Treatment Industry instead of supporting the still suffering addicts.
ARNA’s Outreach Team is made up of a group of volunteers who care about the NA Fellowship. We have no executives, chairs, or leaders; however, we may create a special Ad-Hoc committee and dissolve it when the task is completed. ARNA Outreach is not here to replace any money-making organization. We are here to serve our Fellowship of addicts seeking recovery. We hope to provide a reasonable alternative to those groups who wish to remain truly autonomous, and to only be served by their service structure, not dictated to, or governed by, that structure.
Our Vision
Our vision is to form a Region that allows each individual group to fulfill the reality of Tradition Four: “Each group should be autonomous except for matters affecting other groups or N.A. as a whole.” Tradition Four speaks of the type of matters that affect other groups or NA as a whole… each group is autonomous except for when it is a threat to another group, their actions hurt other groups, or it violates any of the 12 Traditions that affect NA as a whole. This tradition will no longer be misused to strip away group autonomy to do business by creating One Service Body.
Our Purpose
The purpose of ARNA is to provide only non-administrative services to the group in the spirit of Tradition Nine. Tradition Nine in the Grey Book clearly states “an administrative structure, by its very nature, eliminates the possibility of group autonomy.”
The ARNA Region consists of the Outreach Service Team and each individual group. Our purpose is to remain free from the guidance of the 12 Concepts that make other organizational service boards and committees NOT responsible to those they serve.
Finally, Tradition Nine WARNS “An organized N.A. is a contradiction in terms and any attempt to force organization on US would DESTROY us.”
Our Services
ARNA team members volunteer to serve and inform the groups in a Spirit of love by coordinating activities such as Group registration for our ARNA Meeting List, Group Communication through shared monthly Newsletter articles, group anniversaries, events, announcements from the individual groups, Hot-line support, Jails and Institutional outreach coordination, and helping a group to purchase or print their own literature, obtain key tags, IP, etc. ARNA Outreach believes in the newcomers, and our primary purpose to help addicts still suffering is critical for our survival. We Need Outreach Volunteers. If your Group needs a service to be added to this list, please contact our website volunteers.
We Love Narcotics Anonymous - Why A Petition?
Simply - we are challenging NAWS to show the State they are mis-managing the Trust as it was originally Intended!
What is the Autonomous Region of Narcotics Anonymous?
ARNA Service Structure
Narcotics Anonymous is the GROUP. ARNA Service Structure consists of the Group and the Region. According to Tradition Four our Service committees, or anything outside of the Group, are NOT Narcotics Anonymous. Whether the group chooses to utilize ARNA services offered is up to the group. Some groups may even form their own Area instead of utilizing regional services offered to the individual group. However ARNA only provides services on a group-level, not on an area-level, basis.
The Areas that ARNA speaks of are not a part of the ARNA service structure but consist of Areas listed by geographical or virtual locations. The practice simplifies the logistics of meeting…
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Attendance based on the actual physical or virtual location of the meetings on our ARNA Meeting List. The purpose of these geographical Areas is not created to dissolve group autonomy by providing Administrative authority which has the power to rule, censor, decide, or dictate to groups as outlined in the 12 Concepts.
ARNA Region is guided by the Spiritual Principles of the 12 Steps and the 12 Traditions.
We invite any group members to attend our regularly scheduled Sunday 2:00 p.m. (EST) Outreach Team meetings. Any addicts may attend Outreach Team meetings as a spectator or volunteer, not as a group Representatives or Delegates. Why? Because ARNA does not make any decisions for any N.A. group. The only decisions ARNA Team members make are decisions regarding HOW to perform a group service.
The Other Side of ARNA
So far you’ve heard about the ARNA Outreach Team, services, and volunteers. There is, however, another side to ARNA. The Legal Entity side of ARNA was created to fulfill and meet government laws, rules, regulations and legal specifications and requirements. This part of ARNA has been deemed a necessity in order to file a court legal petition, to obtain an EIN Tax identification number, collection of duty-free funds, and to initiate banking activities, which consist of two accounts – one for Outreach services, and one to support legal activities.
This legal side of ARNA is not a part of the ARNA Service Structure. The legal entity is completely and totally separate from any and ALL activities…
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of the ARNA Region and the individual Groups. Thus, the legal entity’s sole communication thereby only exists and occurs between itself and the ARNA Outreach Team members. The aforementioned legal entity is not, for any reason or at any time, to engage with, or to communicate to, the individual ARNA Groups on the behalf of the ARNA Region, for any purpose. The bottom-line is that the legal side of ARNA has not been given any authority, rights, privileges, or power in any way to administrator, govern, rule, censor, decide, or dictate to the Autonomous Region of Narcotics Anonymous (Outreach Team and individual N.A. groups).
Group Conscience
When the groups unite together as one collective body group autonomy no longer exists. The autonomy of our groups is necessary for our survival. Group Conscience is not the same as Group Consensus. Group Consensus is where a group of groups come together as One Body, the Administrator presents an agenda of questions, each group representative votes according to their group conscience, and the majority rules. The other groups are forced to go against God’s will for their groups. This is actually not spiritual because it is in conflict and direct contradiction to Tradition Two. It is not spiritual because it is not practical!
At that point a home group is subject to being…
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directed and controlled by other groups, instead of the one ultimate authority as it expresses itself in that group’s conscience. One Group cannot be governed and controlled by another group or groups, because each group is self-governing. This is true Group Autonomy! When Group Conscience is taken outside of the group it becomes in-line with the 12 Concepts and is no longer a Group Conscience. It becomes a Group Consensus, which involves opinions, politics and personalities. In this scenario, the majority rules, not a Higher Power as it expresses itself in the Group Conscience.
ARNA has only geographical, not administrative, Areas. This encourages each individual group to utilize their Group Conscience to maintain the atmosphere of recovery in their home group. The Group Conscience aids the group when doing their group financial business, making their group decisions, and carrying their group personal N.A. message to the addicts who are in recovery, and to the newcomer. ARNA will never encourage one group to take the power to rule, censor, decide, or dictate to another group in our N.A. Fellowship.
Every Member Has A Voice
In ARNA, every member has a VOICE. The way ARNA arrives at a decision that involves every N.A. member is by inviting individual members to participate. Why doesn’t ARNA just use Group Conscience, Group Consensus, or Unanimity? Tradition Two teaches that Group Conscience is for the individual autonomous group seeking guidance and direction from God as our ultimate authority. Many addicts are not even aware of what happens to their Group Conscience when it leaves their Home Group. In the Concepts Two, Three and Six, the N.A. groups as ONE Body (each group has to abandon their autonomy) has delegated ultimate responsibility and authority NOT to a loving, caring God, but to service center and/or committee members, who…
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are not a part of Narcotics Anonymous, to make decisions, to rule and govern the groups. Outside of the Home Group, the group conscience ends up becoming a group consensus, then a group unanimity.
According to the NAWS’ 12 Concepts (especially the Sixth), the service body does not count the votes and the Majority wins. The service committee uses the group conscience “votes as a rough tool” to guide them in carrying out their “substantial responsibility that allows (empowers) them to participate fully in its decision making process” for the groups of N.A. The group conscience outside of the Home group becomes a group consensus, then finally unanimity. It does not at any time carry the N.A. groups’ conscience.
This is not true for ARNA. For instance, when our new ARNA website is finished, the Outreach Team will invite each individual member of the Region to vote on serious matters, such as the nature and personality of ARNA (vision, purpose, service); ARNA Service Structure vs NAWS Service Structure; Separation between the ARNA Service Side and the Legal Incorporation Side; N.A. Literature; etc., section by section. Each member’s vote will be counted on the website for all to see. This way, every member’s VOICE will be heard in ARNA.
NA Literature
What is Narcotics Anonymous Literature? N.A. literature is any literature that is written by an addict(s) for addicts. ARNA does not censor, approve or disapprove literature used in autonomous N.A. group meetings. None of our traditions state that we can only use Approved Literature in our N.A. group meetings. There is no tradition or rule mandating anyone to usurp the power to rule, censor, decide, or dictate our literature that is used by the group. N.A. literature is any literature written by an addict(s) for addicts, so long as it does not violate or contradict the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions of N.A. Unity is important to ARNA – not uniformity.
ARNA is not…
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interested in uniformity, where every addict says the same thing and does the same thing, like mindless robots. We addicts practice abstaining completely from all mood and mind altering substances. We share one primary purpose, carrying the message that an addict, any addict, can stop using drugs, lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live. Many recovering addicts use their creative freedom to carry the N.A. message in writing in many different ways. This creative freedom poses no danger to our N.A. unity and common welfare because each member also has the freedom to take what they like and leave the rest.
Using literature from another Fellowship is the only restriction imposed on the groups by the Twelve Traditions of N.A. Tradition Six states “The use of literature, speakers, and announcements of other fellowships in our meetings constitutes an implied endorsement of an outside enterprise.” So we don’t use literature from other fellowships in our N.A. meetings.
ARNA welcomes literature written by addicts, for addicts. We welcome translations of the Basic Text (written in English) into other local languages, historical literature, Jail-house literature, Step and Tradition Study Guides, etc. Any literature submitted to our Outreach Team will be reviewed only to ensure it does not violate or contradict the Twelve Steps and/or the Twelve Traditions of N.A. If it is clear of violations and contradictions, it will then be posted on the N.A. Literature Tab of this website. Any literature on this tab may be downloaded, free-of-charge, and printed for use in carrying the message to the addict who still suffers.
How To Join ARNA
Your Group is a member of ARNA when you say you are. If your Home group meeting already belongs to NAWS, ASIS, USSC, or any other Narcotics Anonymous organization, dual group membership is welcomed here at ARNA. Please don’t get offended if we ask you to register your Group. It’s okay if you don’t wish to register your group with ARNA. But we ask the group to register because we can’t recognize you unless we know that you exist. We can’t attend your meeting if we don’t know who you, where you are or what time you meet.
There are two basic types of meetings; those which are open to the general public and those closed to the public (for addicts only). Meeting…
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format type vary widely from group to group. Some are participation meetings, some speaker, some question and answer, some special problems discussion. No matter what your group format is, all you have to do to add your meeting is to contact our Outreach Team or go directly to BMLT and add your meeting information. Why? So that addicts can find and attend your meeting. All we need to know is your Group name, Time, Place, Open or Closed, Format Type, and contact person information.
According to Tradition Four, a Narcotics Anonymous group is a meeting which meets regularly at a specified place (physical/virtual) and time for the purpose of recovery, provided that it follows the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of N.A. If your Home group chooses to continue following the NAWS Twelve Concepts, which is not N.A., then ARNA may not be for you. ARNA is a non-administrative service team of volunteers, so if you want to be ruled, censored, have decisions made for you, or dictated to, then ARNA might not be for you. But if you want to experience true group autonomy, as described in the Grey Book and the Basic Text Second Edition, you may want to give ARNA a try to see if we have anything to offer you.
Simplicity is the Key
*** DRAFT WEBSITE VERSION 1***
This website is a VISION of an Autonomous Region following the 12 Traditions of Narcotics Anonymous vs the 12 Concepts of NAWS.
Each member will have the opportunity to vote on accepting this website content, section by section.
ARNA Region is guided by the Spiritual Principles of the 12 Steps and the 12 Traditions.