‘I was a heroin addict and had given up on myself. Then suddenly, briefly, I felt a desire to live’ by John Crace

January 4, 2022

‘What I heard at Narcotics Anonymous changed my life’ … John Crace. Photograph: Pauline Keightley/Bridgeman Images

Yesterday, I posted a blog from one of my favourite journalists, John Crace, the Guardian’s parliamentary sketch writer, about his past heroin addiction. John had been in recovery for 32 years at the time of writing that article. Here is a second article by John about his addiction and recovery, which appeared on 27 December 2021.

‘At my lowest point, I sought self-annihilation. I was saved at the last moment by two of the few people I had not pushed away.

It was a Saturday night in early October 1986. My 30th birthday party, or what passed for it. Just a handful of junkies and my few remaining friends sitting on the floor of a grey, bare room in a flat in south London. I had thought it would be fun, as, for once, there was no shortage of heroin. Instead, I felt wretched.

Read More ➔

Category: Blog Tags: , , , , ,

‘How I Overcame my Heroin Addiction – and Started to Live’ by John Crace

January 3, 2022

John Crace, who became addicted to heroin in his early 20s. Photograph: Theo Moye/apexnewspix.com

One of my favourite newspaper writers is John Crace, the Guardian’s parliamentary sketch writer. He writes really well, challenges the political system and politicians (hitting all the nails on the head), and possesses a wicked sense of humour. Imagine my surprise when I discovered by reading one of John’s articles that he is a recovering heroin addict. Here is that article, straight from the Guardian of 25 March 2019.

‘Deciding to give up the drugs was easy. But Narcotics Anonymous meetings got me through the really hard bit – staying off them for good

It was one of the easier decisions I have made. So easy that I must have made it hundreds of times over the best part of 10 years. The first time, I was in my early 20s and had woken to find I had cramps, sweats and felt wretchedly sick. That was when I knew what I had fondly imagined was recreational drug use had slipped into full-on heroin addiction. This has got to stop now, I told myself. A couple of days of cold turkey and then get back on with my life – a decision that lasted as long as it took to get up and go to score.

Read More ➔

Category: Blog Tags: , , ,

The Crescent and the Needle: The Remarkable Rise of NA in Iran

May 16, 2014

8561803This blog contains an excerpt of a remarkable story published in the magazine The Fix. It is the Story of how an approach developed in a Western culture – Narcotic Anonymous – to help people recover from narcotic addiction – has had remarkable success in another culture.

‘As of 2012 there were 61,800 Narcotics Anonymous meetings worldwide. 27,650 in the USA and 15,955 in the rest of the world, except for Iran. There are 18,195 weekly NA meetings in Iran where Narcotics Anonymous was voted the top NGO by the government.’

Here is another excerpt from this fascinating article:

‘Rebecca had experience being in tough situations at 3 AM in the morning. In the thick of her heroin addiction, she had been in jeopardy countless times. As the Assistant Executive Director of the Narcotics Anonymous World Services Office, she had traveled all over the world. She had led workshops for emerging NA fellowships in many Third World countries.

Read More ➔

Category: Blog Tags: , , , ,

‘Narcotics Anonymous Comes of Age’ by Bill White

October 8, 2013

rsz_201307diamondjubileelogoBill White has recently written a blog and co-authored an article on the 60th Anniversary of NA.

‘Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is too often relegated to the status of stepchild of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).  NA’s unique history, culture, and distinctiveness are routinely obscured within references to “AA and other Twelve Step programs.” 

For the past several years, Chris Budnick, Boyd Pickard and I have been conducting research on the history of NA, and we recently authored an article commemorating the 60th anniversary of NA’s founding.  In this article we identified and discussed 12 things we believed every addiction professional should know about NA.

Read More ➔

Category: Blog Tags: , , , , , ,