Editing Narcotics Anonymous (section)

==Organizational structure==
Members meet at NA Groups; Representatives of which participate in Area Service Committees (ASC); Several Area Service Committees form a Regional Service Committee (RSC) and the Regional Delegates (RD) make up NA World Service Committee.<ref name="GWS">All information in the "Organizational structure" section, unless otherwise sourced, comes from {{cite book|title=A Guide to World Services in NA|url=http://www.na.org/pdf/2004GWSNA_final.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060816015220/http://www.na.org/pdf/2004GWSNA_final.pdf|archive-date= August 16, 2006|edition=Conference Cycle 2004–2006|year=2004|pages=1–5 and 37|publisher=Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.|isbn=978-1-55776-554-3}}</ref> The foundation for this structure is the Twelve Traditions of NA and the 12 Concepts for NA Service.

===NA Groups===
Narcotics Anonymous is fundamentally made up of NA Groups. An NA Group is a number of NA members who meet regularly; usually at the same time and place each week. Some Groups have more frequent meetings but are considered to be part of a single Group. Groups have one primary purpose, to carry the message to the addict who still suffers. Groups are largely independent of one another and members of NA are encouraged to choose a "homegroup" to belong to, a group they attend regularly and where they will be missed if they are absent. Each Group elects any number of leaders, or "trusted servants", to serve the needs of the Group they made include a Group Secretary, a Group Treasurer, a Group Chairperson, a Group Service Representative (GSR), and an alternate GSR. This election process is carried out by the Group Conscience which is a business meeting made up of the members of the Group who strive for consensus-based decisions. With each group being autonomous, without affecting NA as a whole, the responsibilities of trusted servants vary from meeting to meeting. These responsibilities or "group policies" are contrived through the group's business meeting by inviting a Higher Power to guide each recovering person's decision, also known as a group conscience. An example of one specific trusted servant's responsibilities are, "The secretary is responsible for opening the meeting, choosing someone to chair the meeting, making sure coffee gets made, etc. He or she also arranges for purchasing supplies and keeping group records. The treasurer keeps financial records and pays the group's bills. The GSR attends the Area Service Committee meetings and represents the group to the ASC. The alternate GSR assists the GSR and prepares to replace the GSR when need be."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Group|url=http://www.na.org/pdf/litfiles/us_english/IP/EN3102.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611154733/http://www.na.org/pdf/litfiles/us_english/IP/EN3102.pdf|archive-date=2007-06-11|year=1988|publisher=Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.}}</ref>

===Area service committees===
An ASC is made up of all the participating NA Groups in a given area. The Group Service Representatives (GSRs) and alternate GSRs from each Group in an Area meet regularly together for a business meeting where issues are raised and discussed to better meet the needs of the groups in the Area. Each ASC elects its own officers: the chairperson, vice-chairperson, secretary, treasurer, and regional committee members (RCMs). Frequently an ASC will have various subcommittees (such as a but not limited to Hospitals and Institutions (H&I), Public Information (PI), Activities, Website, Outreach, Policy, Literature, Literature Review, Newsletter, Recovery By Mail and Convention) which are led by subcommittee leaders that are elected by the entire ASC. In some regions, several ASCs will be grouped into a Metropolitan Service Committee at the sub-regional level; this is typical in especially large cities, like Los Angeles, that contain multiple ASCs.

===Regional service committees===
An RSC is composed of the regional committee members (RCMs) of all the participating ASCs in a region. It is similar in organization to an ASC but is further removed from the day-to-day activities of individual home groups. Many of the issues dealt with by RSCs are the same ones that will come before the World Service Conference, with the RSC being the best way for local groups to help craft policies that will affect NA as a whole. In some cases, only the RCMs in a region will meet to vote on issues; in other situations, all GSRs in a region will be invited to attend an RSC meeting. The RSC elects a delegate to attend the World Service Conference.

===Zonal Forums===
The Zonal Forums are service-oriented organizational structures designed to improve communication between RSCs. They are not decision-making entities.

Some Zonal Forums actively participate in "Fellowship Development" to help NA fellowships grow in new countries and geographic areas where NA is still forming. Zonal Forums help NA groups, areas, or regions to work together to translate literature, inform the local community about NA and create new service committees. This is achieved through annual or biannual Zonal Forum meetings together with development visits to NA groups and members in other countries. Experienced NA members hold workshops, and meetings and present material to help the newer communities.

Zonal forums also provide an important opportunity for World Services and the World Board to interact with newer and growing NA communities to better understand their needs and challenges. Zonal forums are an important part of the growth of NA in some of the most populous and remote parts of the world. Eastern Europe, central and eastern Asia, and Latin America NA communities have grown significantly through the work of Zonal Forums.

Some Zonal Forums are a service-oriented sharing session that provides the means by which NA communities in their zone can communicate, cooperate, and grow with one another. Although not a part of NA's formal decision-making system, Zonal Forums interact with World Services in many ways. Each Zonal Forum provides a biannual report on the floor of the World Service Conference and, when requested by the conference, may also answer specific questions or address the body. To improve communications, the Zonal Forums are provided with conference participant mailings and send each Zonal Forum meeting record to World Services. To more effectively serve the fellowship, World Services and the Zonal Forums maintain an ongoing partnership to plan and conduct the Worldwide Workshop system.

===NA World Service Conference===
The NA World Service Conference (WSC) is a triennial service meeting made up of the delegates of the seated Regions and Zones of the world and the members of the NA World Board. This service conference has the executive right to make decisions for the entire NA Fellowship. This includes electing members to serve on the World Board, approving all new NA Literature, service material, and making policy decisions that affect the fellowship including the organizational structure. This responsibility has been executed as recently as the late 1990s when the World Service Conference voted to re-structure the NA Service structure including the removal of the Board of Trustees, Board of Directors, and several other World Service level committees (Public Information, Hospitals & Institutions, Literature, and Translations) replacing them with a single board elected by the conference.

===NA World Service Office===
The WSC through the World Board is responsible for the NA World Service Office located in the [[Chatsworth, Los Angeles|Chatsworth]], a neighborhood of [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], United States. This office handles the production of all approved literature, provides resources for projects approved by the WSC, and also provides limited services to the fellowship as a whole. The office also administers the legal responsibilities of the fellowship concerning copyrights, intellectual property, and accounting. The office employs many people who carry out these functions.

===Finances===
Narcotics Anonymous members are not required to pay any dues or fees. NA is committed to being fully self-supporting, declining any outside contributions. Group expenses are covered entirely by voluntary contributions from its members. Groups meet costs such as meeting room rental, tea and coffee, and any literature that the group provides for free from these contributions, after which surplus funds are passed to the service structure. Group often provide some literature items such as IPs (Double sided single sheet pamphlets) and keytags/chips celebrating clean time. Area Service Committees are typically funded from Group contributions plus money raised by events such as dances and recovery events attended by members. In some countries Area committees also supply literature to the Groups.<ref>{{Cite web |last=NA |first=Iran |title=انجمن معتادان گمنام |url=https://nairan.org/ |website=وب سایت انجمن معتادان گمنام}}</ref> Areas pass funds on to the Regions, which can also receive contributions from Groups and also raise money through conventions attended by hundreds to thousands and tens of thousands of members. Regions also sometimes run Regional Service Offices which buy literature from the World Service Office and its branch offices for sale to Areas and Groups. Because Regional Service Offices can purchase in bulk and sell at list price sometimes this surplus exceeds the running costs of the office. Regions then pass funds to Zonal Forums and also the World Service Conference via the World Service Office according to the decision of the Region.

At the World Service level of Narcotics Anonymous expenses are met partially by the voluntary donations via the service structure and also through the sale of recovery literature. NA does not accept donations from non-members, organizations, or governments. NA recovery literature is produced by the NA World Service Office (NAWS) located in California, USA. Typically NA groups will purchase literature using group funds from local (area or regional) service offices, or direct from NAWS.

Some literature is provided to new members for free (such as the "Information Pamphlets") while other, typically book-length pieces, are sold at the purchase cost to the group. Literature is also purchased from Group contributions and made available to new members. NAWS receives 87% (2004/5) of its income from the sale of literature. Other expenses include group refreshments, meeting-place rent, etc. Financial information is publicly available on the NA website.<ref>{{cite web|year=2005|url=http://www.na.org/reports/ar/2005/AR2005_Financial_Reports.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060926002219/http://www.na.org/reports/ar/2005/AR2005_Financial_Reports.pdf|archive-date= September 26, 2006|title=Financial Report 2005|pages=2 (45)|publisher=NA World Services, Inc.}}</ref> The 2007 World Convention of NA ran at a net financial loss of $596,000.<ref>{{cite book|title=NA World Services Conference Report - 29th World Service Conference 2008 |url=http://www.na.org/pdf/cr/0308/2008%20CR%20040808.pdf |publisher=op. cit |page=76 |quote=The single largest surprise in this cycle was the poor attendance at WCNA-32 and the resultant financial loss. Overall, we took in $1,468,000 in total income when we were originally expecting $3,032,000 in the 2006&ndash;2008 NAWS Budget. We had numerous changes to the WCNA-32 budget since it was adopted in April 2006. With our adjustments to the budget in June 2007, we were able to reduce expenses by approximately $263,000 which resulted in a loss to NAWS for WCNA-32 of $596,000. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910215242/http://www.na.org/pdf/cr/0308/2008%20CR%20040808.pdf |archive-date=September 10, 2008 }}</ref>