Narcotics Anonymous is a global, community-based organization with a multilingual and multicultural membership. NA was founded in 1953, and our membership growth was minimal during our initial twenty years as an organization. Since the publication of our Basic Text in 1983, the number of members and meetings has increased dramatically. Today, NA members hold nearly 67,000 meetings weekly in 139 countries. We offer recovery from the effects of addiction through working a twelve-step program, including regular attendance at group meetings. The group atmosphere provides help from peers and offers an ongoing support network for addicts who wish to pursue and maintain a drug-free lifestyle. Our name, Narcotics Anonymous, is not meant to imply a focus on any particular drug; NA’s approach makes no distinction between drugs including alcohol. Membership is free, and we have no affiliation with any organizations outside of NA including governments, religions, law enforcement groups, or medical and psychiatric associations. Through all of our service efforts and our cooperation with others seeking to help addicts, we strive to reach a day when every addict in the world has an opportunity to experience our message of recovery in his or her own language and culture. 

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The History of Narcotics Anonymous in BC

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The First Meeting for Addicts in BC 
The first recovery meetings in British Columbia for addicts used the name Addicts Anonymous and occurred in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia in the early 1950's. These meetings were connected to a movement that grew out of meetings for addicts at the Unites States Public Health Service Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky in the late 1940's. These meeting died out in the early 1960's because they did not follow the Traditions.

 

NA Begins in Canada 
The first Narcotics Anonymous meeting took place in Canada in late September of 1967. It was in Victoria, British Columbia that James D. and Bernard A. began meeting weekly to help

each other stay clean. The late 1960's were a time of struggle for the fellowship anD in 1967 there were only 15 meetings world wide, with most of them occurring in California. Although the attendance

at the Victoria meetings fluctuated, and the locations often changed, by the early 1970's the fellowship had begun to stabilize and it was in 1973 that the The Victoria Area Service committee formed.

 

NA Grows 
By late 1979 an N.A. meeting was started in Vancouver, and in 1981 the NA World Directory listed 11 meetings in BC . The publishing of the "Basic Text" was responsible for the rapid growth of NA world wide including BC and it wasn't long before there were several meetings throughout the Province. The 1983 World Directory contained 48 meetings, and by 1989, 112 meetings were taking place in BC

 

The Pacific Northwest 
In the early 1980's British Columbia, Washington State, Oregon, and northern Idaho formed what was then known as the Pacific Northwest Region of Narcotics Anonymous. Members from BC and these States met throughout the Pacific Northwest to hold regional meetings. By 1981, the meetings in Vancouver continued to grow and by October 1985, 6 groups joined together to form the Fraser Valley Area Service Committee.

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Today

Since the 1980's to today, The BC Region has meetings in almost every corner of the province and has seen stable growth for the last few decades. From that humble establishment of the Fraser Valley Area Service Committee in 1985, the BC Region today encompasses 14 Area Service Committees which serve the needs of the numerous groups spread throughout the province.