N.A. article, part three:

It has become clear that our common identification, our unity, and our full surrender as addicts
depends on a clear understanding of our most fundamental principles: We are powerless over a
disease that gets progressively worse when we use any drug. It does not matter what drug was
at the center for us when we arrived. Any drug we use will release our disease all over again.
We recover from the disease of addiction by applying our Twelve Steps. Our steps are uniquely
worded to carry this message clearly, so the rest of our language of recovery must be consistent
with our steps. We cannot mix these fundamental principles with those of our parent fellowship
without crippling our own message.
Both fellowships have a Sixth Tradition for a reason: to keep each one from being diverted from
its own primary purpose. Because of the inherent need of a Twelve Step fellowship to focus on
one thing and one thing only, so that it can do that one thing supremely well, each Twelve Step
fellowship must stand alone, unaffiliated with everything else. It is in our nature to be separate, to
feel separate, and use a separate set of recovery terms, because we each have a separate,
unique primary purpose. The focus of AA is on the alcoholic, and we ought to respect that
fellowship’s perfect right to adhere to its own traditions and protect its focus. If we cannot use
language consistent with that, we ought not go to their meetings and undermine that
atmosphere. In the same way, we NA members ought to respect our own primary purpose and
identify ourselves at NA meetings simply as addicts, and share in a way that keeps our message
clear.
A casual, cursory glance at AA’s success in delivering recovery to alcoholics over the years
makes it abundantly clear that theirs is a successful program. Their literature, their service