Areas serve the groups that are in particular geographic locations. There are thousands of areas of Narcotics Anonymous throughout our Worldwide Fellowship. Areas in particular geographic locations come together to form a Regional Service Committee (RSC); creating the majority of the current service structure in Narcotics Anonymous today.
The purpose of the area is to provide services for the groups that would be difficult for those groups to provide without taking away from the time and resources they need to focus on carrying the message of recovery to the addict who still suffers. The area also has several subcommittees that have specific tasks. Each subcommittee has a Chair that is elected by the GSR’s in attendance at the Area meetings when elections take place. The following is a brief description of each subcommittee:
Hospitals & Institutions (H&I): Carries NA meetings into institutions such as treatment centers, jails, prisons and hospitals.
Public Information (PI): Informs the public, professionals and schools that NA exists in the community and is a viable resource of recovery from the disease of addiction.
Literature Sales: Keeps an inventory and supplies local groups with literature, key tags, medallions and other NA merchandise.
Literature Development: Reviews new NA literature that is being proposed for distribution to the NA fellowship.
Activities: Manages recovery events such as picnics, dances, game nights, canoe trips, speakathons etc.
Outreach: Serves as the outstretched hand of an established NA community to isolated groups and addicts, particularly large rural areas, insuring that all addicts have the opportunity to attend NA meetings.
Some of these sub-committees meet separately on a regular basis; others meet during Area Service Committee (ASC) meeting. If you would like to help with any of these, it is suggested you attend the sub-committee’s meeting. You could also attend the Area Service Committee meeting. Any addict may attend the area meeting or any of the subcommittee meetings. It is also important to know that the Area and subcommittees are accountable to the groups of this area.