Tradition Wars

[dalin]

Traditions War: a pathway to peace

Preface


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[PARTICIPANTS DRAFT OF WORK IN PROGRESS - NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION - ED]

Sunday, June 27, 2004



Shame - Guilt - Fear

Traditions Wars:

a pathway to peace



NA Fellowship Work in Progress





Cover Art

The Phoenix is a legendary bird whose tears have the power to heal. The Phoenix can resurrect itself from its own ashes. When addicts get clean and stay clean, they begin to resurrect themselves from the ashes made of their lives. The twelve primary feathers represent the NA Twelve Steps of recovery. We look at the past with shame, the present with guilt and the future with fear. Recovery changes all that!



copyright © 2003



June 12, 2004 version from Draper, Virginia



NA Foundation Group
1516 B Live Oak Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32301

www.nawol.org



Dedication:

To all that we lost during these times of spiritual conflict. If you are alive, clean and have no hatred in your heart, you are victorious not only over your disease but also our historical episodes.

Begun in February as the Victors of the Traditions Wars, in April we moved to change the name of our new book effort to The Traditions War: a pathway to peace. The phrase was part of a sentence spoken by a member sharing in the Smyrna NA Foundation Group. We had not thought of what happened as a war before, but it was. People were hurt, some died, the conflict was real. That seems to cover the action, the fire fights, the victims, casualties, victors and all levels of conflict from cold-warism to outright attacks. We do not mean this as a literary spin on real war. We mean this as the Japanese say, "business is war." Our conflict has been very real and our members seriously injured by deliberate actions, justified by confused members who had no better guidance to go on. We love our members better. We don’t hate them better, control them better or punish them better. Our purpose is to bring the conflicts out into the open first and then to recommend alternative ways to deal with situations that have the kind of give and take we need in a spiritual Fellowship like ours. You know, where everybody and their friends are right about just about everything. To get everyone on the same page, we need some more pages.



P R E F A C E

If you have been a member of NA since the late 1980's, and have gratitude in your heart and hatred towards none, you are victorious over not only your disease but also our historical episodes. Naturally, as a Fellowship, we expand for a while numerically and conceptually – then we contract. Our numbers follow this increase and decrease of conceptual breadth and depth. The Tradition Wars is the name we are giving to the conflict between those who think NA is set up like a business and those who feel NA is a spiritual Fellowship. Many of us believe the spiritual dominates the mental plane by including so great a number of factors that go well beyond our field of perception.

This is why we 'turn it over to God.' You can sense things of the world with sight, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching. Things of the spirit are perceived in another manner on a different, wordless, level. There are other good members who have trouble relating to the spiritual and are more comfortable with the material or mental idea of a Fellowship of clean addicts who follow a path of action that while confusing seems to have good results, especially as to staying clean. Many times in this work we will refer to WSO or the business-like members. This is inevitable in dealing with issues and the written word. What we don’t mean is that we hate the members or fail to see and value their viewpoint. It is upsetting and troublesome to many people to have to deal with the spiritual because it seems so intangible and unresolved to a person focused on things of the world. The Tradition Wars have had to do with the violation of our Second, Third, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth and Ninth Traditions. Of course, any violation involves them all ultimately but for purposes of our considerations, we will deal with these first, through time and referencing published minutes, reports and correspondence along with eyewitness accounts.

We are fortunate to have talented, grateful members who are motivated to work on this book in harmony and with the goal of inclusion of various viewpoints. As someone pointed out recently, we don’t think there are serous casualties on our side alone. Having many written materials should hasten the work and allow us to reflect on the entries. Many reports and documents have flooded the NA landscape and there are too many to present them all. We will attempt with the help of an all loving, all-powerful creator to present samples representing experience and viewpoints from all sides. Of course, we know this is a difficult thing. Recovery has accustomed us to miraculous. It is no secret in life that when you are exerting your full effort on behalf of someone in dire need, you are able to step beyond your normal boundaries. Someone on the sidelines would not see or understand that prayer gives people extraordinary energy and the ability to do what is not normally possible. It is a mistake to think they are doing it ‘on their own.’

Since we don’t want money or personal credit for our work, it is obvious that others figure we are nuts. It is just that it isn’t fair to take something where God does all the work. Giving all credit to our Loving God is no exercise in deception. It is the simple truth. It is important that those who would work with us understand.. Love is the flow of spiritual energy between people who care about one another and are open to that caring. As NA has grown, there has been a hope among many of us that the deep, abiding love would eventually be acknowledged. It certainly took a lot of love to keep things going. Policies were pushed aside when they seemed inconvenient. Members were wasted where they fell out of favor with the business ‘‘leaders’’ who began to take over world services. We see a far reaching self-fulfilling prophecy downgrade membership in NA to prevent their having a say in what happens in NA. The original, attractive NA enhanced members and expected great things of them. This was uplifting and surprisingly many members were able to rise to this level of expectation.

“As I watched in the late 1980's the results of WSO's secret publication of the 4th Edition Basic Text from my front row seat on the Board of Trustees, I was appalled that my Fellow trustees were not upset. Some trustees seemed to be in on the unauthorized changes. Unauthorized means the motion that called for the light edit specifically removed the word ‘grammar’ lest it be interpreted to allow for editing beyond spelling, tense, gender and verb agreement. [Look this up and quote exactly! - Ed] This created a system of ongoing tension between those who knew what happened and those who did not. Obviously, much was being done outside the approved service structure, leaving out the members who were following the rules and giving ascension to those willing to break them. The level of damage was so great to our spirit that the perpetrators could not be easily chastised or removed from office. It was a fundamental breakdown of our system. Even to speak or write about it today gets one tar brushed for being in the know. While all this was going on, I prayed there would be a time of reckoning, so the membership would understand that they have to take interest in what goes on at world level and let their will be known! Otherwise, you can just wait for the next big surprise to be thrown at us.

“I have three obligations here. First to my own spiritual integrity, second to my friends who died during these times or lost their spirit and third to you - who would know the truth and pitch in to help us continue and expand our recovery process in Narcotics Anonymous. Even now in these quiet days, I wonder if they are up to something? Are there new betrayals in the works? Or have they settled down to do their jobs in perfect trust and faith to the NA Fellowship. Since the new WSO is styled as a business corporation with little required reporting, no outside audit done in years and delegates who vote how they 'feel' that day, and not representatives who vote the conscience of their region, you can bet there are some nasty surprises ahead. There is a tragic side to human nature that just wants to tear down something beautiful. Like despoilers attacking a religious shrine, it is almost as if they hate the serenity and peace of others and so attack their symbols. The work of years can be torn down in a day. If there is nothing untoward going on, well I am concerned for nothing. If there is, my apprehension only lowers the impact of betrayal. It doesn't prevent it. The point is, I should not have to worry about being betrayed in NA. Nor should anyone else. We can surrender and play by the rules. It gets so twisted that to be forthright and correct is to be deemed dumb and out of it. A world of recovering addicts has had its hands tied for about twelve or thirteen years now. It was in trouble before that. But like the complex inter-workings of an automobile, all the parts have to be in place and in working order for the machine to run. A new Fellowship has grown up wherein members are left out of processes, allowing themselves to be diverted by the carefully presented policy motions that have as their main effect neutralizing and immobilizing the creativity and curiosity of the Fellowship. What makes it all funny and allows us to escape the mess is that by distancing itself from us the supporters, world services if finally setting us free to begin again advancing the processes they seek to control! Discipline is creative - control is deadening.” – Bo S.

To prevent this unfair diversion of Fellowship attention and money, we have to develop a firm understanding of the 12 Traditions of NA. Some things are not ok here. We need to praise our steadfast members who do the daily miracles by setting up the meetings and conducting the services of groups, areas and regions. We have to continue the study we began when we got clean as we continue to pass on what we have learned thus far. This chain of learning and encouraging others must not be broken. It is not spiritual or OK to say God will take care of it. Do we need a rash of new funerals to remind us what happens when we don't do God's Will? People in a valley dying of small pox better get serious about vaccination if they want to live. God inspires and gives gifted people the ability to develop the vaccine, it is up to the doctors and nurses to get it out to the people who need it in time. While many carry into recovery notions that wrongdoers need to be punished, that won't work very well in NA. If someone makes a mistake, deliberately or by accident, chances are they didn't really understand that their actions would result in the death of some of our members. While we pay a terrible price to learn these lessons, we don’t have to pay additional pain and agony by punishing the ‘culprits.’ We don't have to vent the anger we feel towards ourselves for not maintaining the learning days and discussions that should prepare our members to lead recovery meetings.

It takes work and study to learn the importance of really sitting down and explaining membership to someone new. The Twelfth Step is the key Step to NA peace and unity. NA is a self-correcting program. We also warn our members that sometime, somewhere, somehow, we will be thrown off balance and it will make using drugs seem like a good idea. With our disease that is absolutely certain to happen. It may be a business thing, a love affair, a service committee deal. Whatever it is, your package is on its way. Will you have the spiritual force and energy to ward off the obsession and compulsion or will you star in one of the early death scenarios that remind the rest of us to do our duty? Dot Tally of the Pittsburgh Fellowship once said, "Addicts have three requirements to live: food, shelter and someone to blame it on." All us addicts are like this to some degree. Learning to take personal responsibility is the same as saying we find ways to take actions to bring about the good things we want and minimize the things we don't want. Spread out over a Fellowship wide scale, it takes a lot of gratitude and devotion to do what we do. In our NA Society, we each play a vital role, sometimes only known to us. As we share and transmit what we have witnessed and what works for us, room is made for us to learn and experience new things.

I want members of NA to know the miracles we have enjoyed. If some of our members have climbed to the tops of mountains in our name, every NA member should know about it and feel good. How we solve our problems and get help has to be learned because it is not in our nature to do these things well. Usually an addict will be real good at two or three things at the expense of everything else. We have a lot to share and be grateful for in NA. I know I am not alone in this desire and my knowledge of the miracles we have seen. It should be noted that there are many types of corporations and industries that are creative and make themselves attractive by engaging and involving their members, stockholders or employees in their processes. Corporate does not have to be cold and exclusive. Many flourish by establishing and maintaining an air of openness and fair play. When things go wrong, they make an openhanded evaluation and renew their commitment to quality service or whatever their business is. One of the irritating aspects of the past twenty years is the many times we have been betrayed by orators who cover corporate mismanagement and tampering with Fellowship practices under the guise of 'good business.' Terms like streamlining and cost efficiency are used to describe curtailing services that members want and need. Duplication of services is a term used to eliminate vital checks and balances. In NA, it is never 'good business' to leave the Fellowship feeling left out.

In Loving Service,

Bo S.



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:195:

nawol@nawol.org

All rights reserved. This draft may be copied by members of Narcotics Anonymous for the purpose of writing input for future drafts, enhancing the recovery of NA members and for the general welfare of the Narcotics Anonymous Fellowship as a whole. The use of an individual name is simply a registration requirement of the Library of Congress and not a departure from the spirit or letter of the Pledge, Preface or Introduction of this book. Any reproduction by individuals or organizations outside the Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous is prohibited. Any reproduction of this document for personal or corporate monetary gain is prohibited.

Last update January 12, 2006

[dalin]

Traditions War: a pathway to peace

Introduction


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Deceased members full names will appear in this material to prevent confusion.

The Tradition Wars: a pathway to peace

The purpose of this book is to open an avenue for all who have been burned by the lack of participation in our 12 Traditions. We have seen members utilizing power in NA service to bolster their views, increase their power base, or simply to get rid of those who oppose their way of carrying the message. These abuses can be found on any and all levels of NA service. Sadly, they often lead not to disagreements and arguments, but to the very lives of NA members who leave the fellowship, use and possibly die.

Narcotics Anonymous service brings together an odd lot of people who's ideas vary as widely as the forms of drugs we used. Many have a natural talent for structured service, analytical, cold, calculating, often times shrewd and cunning. Many of their talents came from life on the streets were it was kill or be killed. Survival of the fittest was the name of the game and often those that gravitate to the top of the food chain in NA service have honed those skills to an art form.

On the other side are those who believe in self-less service. Who have been taught to give freely expecting nothing in return. They learn that giving this way has it's own reward, a deep sense of self worth and gratitude that is worth much more than gold or fame and titles. NA service often pits these two forces against each other, often with disastrous results not only for the individuals but for the fellowship as a whole.

The Basic Text reminds us that honest sharing is the antidote to our diseased thinking. The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off! Some will be thrilled and thankful that the truth is being told, others may feel threatened, while others will shout loudly, how dare you? We who write this book say back to them.. How dare you??? Sadly, some day down the road, we are all going to have a Judge Judy moment. Probably when large sums of money have been diverted for personal gain, someone will say something like; "So, where were the checks and balances? You dissolved the Board of Trustees, what were you thinking????" The fact that members lives were saved by Narcotics Anonymous and they can cold bloodedly manipulate the system to create a closed none fellowship participatory system to suite their private needs is beyond belief. It stagers the imagination that members who's lives were useless and pathetic, were loved back to health and sanity, and their response is to highjack the service structure and ostracize a loving God as expressed through NA individual group conscience is unfathomable!

No one of us is completely without sin when it comes to tradition wars. Many of us who cry the injustice of structured service, have been party to our own use of traditions as weapons in the war to purify NA. How many members have we sent back out because they did not share our vision of NA unity. We berated them for being sober and not clean, for sharing about Alcoholics Anonymous in "our" NA meetings, like we could truly own something that was God given.

Early NA is littered with the bodies of addicts who never got clean because the fellowships had not yet written the traditions. Before the Traditions were put into written form, the principles still existed, so we can call them ‘spiritual violations. These ‘spiritual violations’ were very injurious to the Fellowship. Individual egos ran the show right into the ground, over and over and over again. The first attempts at NA in NYC at the end of 1949 beginning 1950 was riddled with tradition violations. Of course, they were doing the very best they could with what they had and sadly to say in 1950, they didn't have much. Caring individuals, like Father Dan Eagan and Salvation Army Major General Dorothy Berry helped the fledgling group by creating a board of trustees for NA. Sadly they would not let any addicts serve on this board. The group extended itself to all manner of aid to it's members; housing, food, job assistance. In it's waning years, the leader, a woman named Ray Lopez, had gotten a job working for the Narcotics Division of the city of New York. Half her office was New York Narcotics the other half was NA. You can just imagine the problems that ensued.

As with most early fellowships, the death of the stronger member oft times meant the death of the fellowship, as in direct contradiction of the 12 traditions, one member and not the fellowship, was doing most of the work. They were not "we" fellowships, but ones with small power centers at the top. This is how NA in California failed in it's first attempt. As most of us know, toward the beginning of the 1960's, the last NA meeting in the world had died. It was quickly picked back up by founding members, including Jimmy K. He was always adamant that NA was a “we fellowship” and not an “I” fellowship. He always said; "there are no big shots here in NA – one shot and we’re all shot."

Jimmy K maybe the most visible casualty of the Tradition Wars. Sadly, his name is still used today to justify ongoing hostility and resentments. You have to wonder what Jimmy would think about that. He was a loving man who had many people speaking in his ears toward the end of his life and the end of his career in service to the fellowship as business manager of WSO. Often times Powerful Men will be used by those around them to further their goals. The fellowship begged and pleaded with Jimmy to come to the World Service Conference to give a report, while others played on his feelings of betrayal and fostered their beliefs that the literature committee was out to get him. This was far from the truth. The leaders in the literature for the most part owed their lives to Jimmy, as he sponsored several of them. One member was his protege and probably one of his best friends. Sadly those in the circle around Jimmy painted pictures of betrayal about Greg Pierce that just were not true. Greg shared about the pain of going to his sponsors house and having the door slammed in his face. Why? Because he fought to get a book written by addicts for addicts. So too Greg Pierce, the man who wrote our 12 Tradition chapter of the Basic Text, the NA Tree, our first service structure, The Triangle of Self Obsession, Living The Program, an Approach to The 4th Step in Narcotics Anonymous, had been kicked to the curb for standing up for NA and our need for a book on recovery.

The largest element of NA that was disenfranchised by the tradition wars were the die hard dedicated members of the World Literature Committee. These members gave their ‘all’ for over 2 years to see that a Basic Text of Recovery from the disease of addiction in Narcotics Anonymous became a reality. Many lost family, jobs, and gave countless years of selfless service so that addicts could recover and would not have to die from this wretched disease we are all afflicted with. As changes were made to the Basic Text without true fellowship approval, a little piece of them died. They had sweated over every single word in our book and to see a small handful of insiders would make change after change, hire professional writers to edit something they saw as near perfect and all with the flick of the wrist, or the strike of some keys on a word processor, did in years of diligent tireless selfless service. Many have left NA and sadly will never come back. We owe them our very lives, and this is how we repay them, by labeling them vocal minority, trouble-makers and malcontents, who have nothing better to do than tear down NA.

This book is about any violation of traditions that led to or could lead to the death of even one suffering addict. As our literature states, "that (no) addict seeking recovery need ever die!". The text also lets us know that "we are as sick as our secrets". For these reasons we write and ask all to participate in the writing of the Tradition Wars, this is your book as well as ours. Please go to the NA-HISTORY.ORG web site and input your views and your memories on these our growing years. If you don't write it, it will never be heard! This is your chance to have your say and make a difference for the health and well being of NA for years to come.


To move forward with this work, we will create an original document and let NA members from all over the world input ideas, suggestions, writings, critiques and do this as a joint effort. The way copyright law reads, contributing authors derive their work from originating author. This keeps the technicalities simple and opens the door to participation to any member, just as setting up a meeting place does for a recovery meeting. The www.nawol.org Quest Forum and the information on the www.na-history.org will contribute directly to the material along with any minutes, committee reports and correspondence we can find. Further, we will include eye witness accounts cited with first name and last initial. Special thanks to Grover N. and Ron R. whose courage and vigor have inspired this work. We will add to this list of thanks as we progress. Gratitude to David A. of the Smyrna NA Foundation Group for originating the title in one of his incredible, colorful phrases.
In Loving Service,

Bo S.



Dear Fellow Members,

Our editorial policy should be to present viewpoints and factual documents not otherwise available to help NA members think for themselves. I don't think we ever need to deal in radical rantings, but we should give ourselves the liberty to inform the general membership what has been going on the last ten or fifteen years. Many members haven't been clean that long - so they don't realize they used to have representatives that carried their vote. We are willing to take some time to avoid witch hunts and kangaroo courts. There has been enough of that.

We pray as we undertake this effort for God's divine hand to strengthen and guide us so that our efforts will heal and strengthen our Fellowship.

I went to a convention this past weekend, there was a NA history workshop that I missed so I asked some friends who did the workshop in the hopes that I might come away with a contact that I could get some material from.

When I found out who did the workshop I walked up to the lady who had 25 years clean and told her that we were doing a NA history web page, her reply was ""who is we?"" when I mentioned some of the names involved with the NA history web site she instantly said ""I am not interested"" and turned her back on me.

I was so deflated I did what I know how to do call a trusted addict and talk about it. I got some good feedback and went on and enjoyed the rest of the time I spent at the convention. I did buy the tape from that history workshop along with five others I like the six for five tape deals if your gonna spend five bucks per tape may as well get a free one, anyway I listened to a few tapes I really wanted to here Bob B. was great it took until today for me to get to the history workshop tape and after listening to this lady it made me think of the Tradition Wars topic what I came away with from listening to this lady was this. Yes there were casualties some people died and some of those that survived are still hurting and yet others worked the hell out of this program and got on with their lives.

This lady made me realize that there were casualties on both sides of this thing, and just like we feel strongly about those we lost, there were people lost and hurt on their side also. So maybe just maybe when we start this project about the Victors of the Traditions Wars that we tell about whom got hurt on both sides.

This is just this old addict trying to spark up some thoughts, ideas, and possibly get another part of our history told in a fashion that will bring about true understanding and maybe some healing.

While listening to this tape as she spoke or starting to speak about certain things you could hear the pain she was reliving, that was the initial spark that prompted me to write this. I guess the thing we call empathy does work when you practice the spiritual principles of our God given program.

ILS

Ronald R.


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:195:Traditions War: a pathway to peace
2003 Form

N.A. FELLOWSHIP USE ONLY
Copyright © December 2001


NA Foundation Group
521 W. Bay Street - #113
Jacksonville, FL 32202

nawol@nawol.org

All rights reserved. This draft may be copied by members of Narcotics Anonymous for the purpose of writing input for future drafts, enhancing the recovery of NA members and for the general welfare of the Narcotics Anonymous Fellowship as a whole. The use of an individual name is simply a registration requirement of the Library of Congress and not a departure from the spirit or letter of the Pledge, Preface or Introduction of this book. Any reproduction by individuals or organizations outside the Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous is prohibited. Any reproduction of this document for personal or corporate monetary gain is prohibited.

[dalin]

Traditions War: a pathway to peace

Chapter 1
Early History of NA


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There is an early mention of a 12 Step program for addicts similar to Alcoholics Anonymous in the Summer School for Alcohol and Drugs at Yale in 1948. The question was put to a speaker name William W. We can easily suppose this is Bill Wilson, though investigation may show another person. It is still an early mention and while William’s response is evasive, it doesn’t deny the question.

A person subject to chronic relapse named Daniel Carlson went to Lexington, Kentucky to cut his dope habit one more time and got clean. It may have been a miracle or simply the accumulation of efforts by different people over time. Another man left Montgomery, Alabama and went up to Lexington with the 12 Steps of AA under his arm. His name was Houston Sewell. He helped start the Narco group. There was a newsletter circulated in the Fed system – the Key. Meetings also took place in Angola, the big prison system in Louisiana and in Dallas Texas. While many addicts used the system to lower their habits to more manageable levels, it is obvious that our roots trace back to these early efforts.

In New York, where Danny lived when he wasn’t in Lexington, a up and coming lady in the Salvation Army named Dorothy Berry rose in rank to Brigadier General. Her work earns her mention in our early history. She encouraged and provided meeting space for NA meetings in their facilities. Father Dan Egan also worked, primarily among prostitutes and addicts and also earns mention. An NA member in South Florida in 1982 is quoted as giving an NA member named Charlie McGee credit for coming up with our name, Narcotics Anonymous. Time will tell us more as our work deepens what is known of our history. One thing, regardless of details, we are grateful to them all for what they did led to our recovery today.

West Coast: Sun Valley beginnings, minutes of meeting in July, 1953 show that by October, there was no one left holding their original positions. Remember, the group wanted to be AA/NA and when it came down that AA would not violate their Traditions, it probably offended the original group members. Some members must have met because the legend credits NA as beginning on the West Coast in 1953. We have no idea what the meetings were like but like their counterparts back East, they must have lacked a key ingredient. One member expresses the idea that they started “groups” rather than taking the role of starting a Fellowship. That is why there was no literature. The Little White Booklet was like a small sailboat on the sea of addiction in the fifties, sixties and the early seventies.

The Twelve Traditions were approved by the Fellowship of AA at the St. Louis General Service Conference in 1955. This singular point well illustrates just how new the organizational aspects of 12 Step Fellowships were evolving. When I got clean, I was told that efforts to begin NA in the forties died out because they did not follow the Twelve Traditions. While it is true that the principles that lie within the framework of the Traditions were violated and problems thus generated did stop the meetings in several instances, they could not violate something not yet approved.

One of our earliest members was Daniel Carlson, a hopeless relapser who came back to Lexington to clean up one more time. This time he made it. His is the primary name associated with NA beginnings in the Eastern United States.



Jimmy Kinnon
clean date: Feb 2, 1950, died July 9, 1985
Jimmy K's 20th Anniversary Talk (excerpted)

20th ANNIVERSARY DINNER ISLANDER RESTAURANT
LOS ANGELES AUGUST 18, 1973
CHAIRMAN BOB B. Introduction (excerpts)


The 20th Anniversary is, I think, a good occasion for me in terms of, I was not around for the 20 years because I was still playing crazy. But about 15 years ago, when I did come around I met some people that something happened in the process. And it wasn't to happen for another three years before I was to get clean at the insistence of the state. And then to find out that I could cone out after a couple of years and to stay clean over a period of over ten ears. It wouldn't have been possible if there wasn't people like the people in this room that kind of insisted, kind of pushed, kind of bad rapped me, they kind of held me up. They gave me all the things that were necessary, the things that I needed. And at the same time, one person that I became very close to, at that time, stayed in close touch with me over the years, giving me some confidence in terms that I could do it if would only try. And we've been through many trials of error in my growing up. And at the same time, we've shared a lot of heartaches and pleasures also. I'm going to let him tell you his own story in terms of what happened.

At this time, I've been going through papers our offices and things have been in trunks of cars and back of garages in cardboard boxes, in old filing cases, and what have you. And many of these things that we keep as momentous as to times gone by. And one of these momentous that I've kept over a period of years is an original set of By Laws that were adopted in 1953. (The text of these By Laws can be found beginning on page 2 of this work.) August the 17th, which was yesterday today is like a year (20 years) and one day. This set of guides that were set down in order to determine, to run, or to govern NA as a whole some particular guides. There have been many, many additions and changes since then. But at this time I thought it would be appropriate that I put these here By Laws in some kind of archives for safe keeping. And who better is there to give this to and put it in safe keeping, but the person who helped put it together, kind of shepherded it around, kept us all tied in some manner together. And I put them in a binder so that he can probably put them away with the rest of his treasures as a remembrance of say oh, that's where it started and this is how it is today. And I would like to, at this time, to introduce and present this here set of By Laws as a token of safe keeping and a token of whatever I can't don't even know the words to express it to Jimmy K., one of the founders of NA; and one of the people who has been a mainstay; and one that keeps it together and has kept it together through many of the years that it has been around. So, this is the By Laws, an original set, and I'm going to give these here to Jimmy. And at this time Jimmy probably can give a little more background and highlight as to where it came from, what happened, and what's happening right now. I'm gonna turn it over to Jimmy K.

My name's Jimmy Kinnon, I'm an addict and an alcoholic. (Text of Jimmy's talk is complete.) I've been on the verge of tears for about one hour here and that almost did it. But I'm not ashamed of tears anymore, providing they're the kind that are said for something that's worthwhile. That just about wiped by, brain clean, I can't even remember what I was going to say now. However; in our fellowship, at any time, our main purpose has to be always foremost in our lives; whether we're socializing with each other in our individual homes, or whether we're at a gathering of this kind, particularly this kind. What I have to remember, personally, that I'm here, and possibly all of you are here because of people who'll never be here. The newcomer is the life blood of this organization, always has been, always will be.

Bob pointed out a few people who are here tonight and some people who couldn't make it tonight. Those people we call "Trusted Servants" of Narcotics Anonymous. Mostly, anyone who takes a position or any kind of leader (whether it's Chairman of a Group, Representative of a Group, GSO Representative, Trustee, or anything else regarding this organization) just lets himself in for a lot of work, a lot of criticism, and a lot of those things that go on. But you see, we have to grow, and our shoulders get broad enough to carry these things because the life that is given to us makes everything worthwhile. If it wasn't meaningful and worthwhile, I wouldn't be here tonight. If this program didn't lift me higher carry me further and make me feel better than anything else ever did in my life, I wouldn't be here. That's for **** sure?

I sit up here in this chair, I've always admired these chars but never thought I'd sit in one. I say "Yea Gods?" shades of Peter Lorie, you know, where's the fat man? But, first things first they tell us. You know, this is a part of a dream come true; and a dream envisions great changes but progress demands many small actions. A dream doesn't come true because of one group of people, or one man, or two men, or three men. It comes true because a lot of people work at it, because a lot of people put effort into it, because a lot of people buy the idea and carry it forward. That's one of the reasons we're here.

Most of you have noticed that there are a few pictures over there on that easel. These are some of the pictures of the beginnings. we started long before NA was a reality, even in name. we grew out of a need and we found those of us who were members had come into AA and found we could recover. In AA we found out that many addicts were still going down the road of degradation and death. And we thought it was right that we should try to do something. But, you know, we're funny people, the more we try to do things together, the more we fight each other and the more we tear each other apart, tear down the very thing we try to build. And that's been the history, up until a few short years ago, of Narcotics Anonymous. We tore down as fast as we built. That's the kind of people we are and we must recognize that to recover. All of us must know the nature of the illness, the nature of the illness, the nature of the addict, and the nature of recovery. All these things are necessary to grow, and to live, and to change. And we started from resentments, resentments made us grow.

Before NA there was HFD, Habit Forming Drug Groups. These were hidden, these were one or two or three people meeting in apartments, here and there. Nobody knew where they were, they demanded certain things, and were dominated by one or two persons. You know, you and I don't go for authority, we don't like authority. A few of the people I met down an skid row years ago from East LA formed another group known as Addicts Anonymous. They infringed on the AA name and they died very quickly because they too were dominated by one man. So, we found out very early, and our experience has taught us that we can have no bosses, no big shots in Narcotics Anonymous.

For awhile after we formed A lot of things happened that I'm not going into tonight but due to some things that happened and due to the nature of the addict, the nature of our illness, some people were put ii a position where they became the leaders again, the Great White Father You know, we can't have a Great White Father or a Bib Momma, you know, it doesn't work in this organization. And NA died once more, and the friends of ours in AA helped to pick us up and said "Don't let it bother you". These were the real friends we had in the beginning; members of AA who believed in us, members of AA had themselves a dual problem at that time and recognized that they came and helped us get started again. But again and again this happened in this organization. One person would try to dominate the whole movement. And every time it happened we began to die. Because the Traditions go down the drain when we try this. And one of the first things that we said when we met as a group in that house, #1 up there, where we formed those By Laws that Bob was talking about; where we sat together trying to iron out some things we wanted to do. We came down to very simple ideas. Number one, that we believed that this program of 12 Steps would work for addicts as well as for alcoholics. Two, that the Traditions must be followed if we were to grow, and grow as a fellowship that could stand on its own feet aside from and away from AA. We could take our own place as a fellowship, and not be dominated by or affiliated with anything or anybody else. And we said we would keep a place open for at least two years, and if in two years one or two addicts showed that this program could work for them, we would have felt that it had been worthwhile.

That fundamentally, was what we started with. But we argued about it for about six weeks before we put those By Laws on paper, and then we didn't want the By Laws. The sooner I figured we could get rid of the By Laws, the better off weld be. Because the policies of the Traditions are enough to guide us in what we have to do. The Traditions will save us from ourselves. And this is what is so necessary for a fellowship like ours. This is life, the other way is death as we know it. But how hard and how difficult it is not to go back. How difficult?

The first big order of business we had when we got together was the name. I was the first Chairman of what we then called ah - nothing. AANA, that's what it was called and I said "You simply can't do that ". You made me your chairman, we're gonna have to find another name, we can' t call Ourselves AANA or NAAA. And the committee who voted me the Chairman immediately vetoed what I said . Right , that's a good way to start. They vetoed everything I said the first night, so I thought I was off to a pretty good start. I wasn't going to get away with any horse **** from these people. They were going to find out what was right to do . And so the first order of business was to contact Anonymous to find out if we could use their name.; and found out that you couldn't do it. So I got the satisfaction, at least, of being right on the first thing that they vetoed. That made me feel a little better, you know, because I got news for you, I get my own way most of the time. I know you recognize that because so do you. That's the kind of people we are. But we had a lot of trouble when we got together; because I'm just like you are and you're just like I am. You're going to have to show me that what you say is going to work or I ain't going to go along. And thank God we are like that. I think that is what makes this program work eventually.

It was very hard to find a place to meet; after we got together and agreed what we were going to do. You couldn't find a hall to meet in. Nobody would allow us in. They didn't trust us in any way, shape or form. And it's pretty sad when you go from one place to another after you've got something real good going and nobody will let you use their hall. You know? Eventually, we did find a Salvation Army hall and they allowed us to use it for five dollars a month. You know, that's pretty good, but there were no facilities there. There was one little with a hand basin and a bowl in there, and that was it. There was no kitchen, so we had to go out and buy a little electric stove and some coffee pots, some cups which I still have at home. I found them just this week. I've had them all these years. We used to give them to each other because this week you might meet at my place, which is the second picture up there, and next week we might meet at your place. So you took the cups with you so everybody would have a cup to get their coffee in. You know, not many of us had more than a couple of cups in our houses then. In fact, not many of us were working. But that's the way it was. I still have those things.

"I got news for you, the Sunland Lumber Company is now defunct, but we're still living. The Salvation Army hall is still there - there are 2 pictures if it up on the top line - it is now a Spanish church. Some of the other pictures up there are where we had some of our "Rabbit Meetings". We called them "Rabbit Meetings" then because we never knew where we were going to meet. If there were 5 or 6 of us at a meeting tonight we decided then whose apartment or whose house we'd have the meeting in next week. And you would take the cups and sugar bowls and the format with you, you know, and then we'd meet at your place next week.

It wasn't that we who were getting into the program then were so afraid of the law but the newcomers were scared to death. I made a sign and we put it outside of the front door of the church there (about twice the size of this - three times the size of that) that said NA Meeting tonight at 8:30. And then we opened the door for business and we'd get about a dozen alcoholics in there who came to help us. And then a car would pull down around the comer slowly and they'd look at the sign and then they'd split. Nobody trusted nobody - you know they thought it was staked out. They wouldn't believe us when we told them there was no surveillance. And we weren't just too sure in the beginning ourselves."

"Because as a group we decided we were going to get right with the law at least and we went down to the Narcotics Division. And we told them, we didn't ask them, we told them we were going to have a meeting of addicts. And they raised their eyebrows a little bit when we first mentioned it. But there were 5 of us down there. A Miller, I forget if he was a Lieutenant or a Captain then, he listened and he said: "It's about time something like this happened, I've been trying to help addicts for years and with no success; I can't help anybody". And so he called in a lieutenant to listen in on our conversation and see what he thought. And he was a hard-nosed, old style, hope-to-die cop who knew for sure (who knew for sure) that none of us could recover, you know. And he listened and Miller was saying: "I like that idea", "I'll go along with that idea", "I buy what you have to say", "I'll do everything I can to help you". All the way down the line he was all for us. He kept his word, by the way. And he said to this lieutenant "what do you think?" (lieutenant): "Ain't gonna work, once a Junkie always a Junkie, you know that, God Damit. There's never any of them gonna get any better. I don't care what you say, I don't care what these people say, it ain't gonna work." So he looked back at us and I didn't know what the Hell to say, you know I'm only one of the group. I looked at Doris and she didn't know what to say. And Frank didn't know what to say. And old Pat, who was sitting back there with his mouth shut all this time and never opened his mouth says: "Lieutenant, my name is so-and-so, I was born and raised in such-and-such a place, I got arrested the first time for such-and-such a thing, and I was sentenced such-and -such a time for so many years; and starting there I want you to go back and check my record all the way through. I've been in every God Damned Federal Pen., except Danamora, in the country. I'm the last of the Petermen, and I haven't had a bit of Junk for 18 years. I haven't been in Jail for 18 years; and this program works for me. Now you look it up and prove it to yourself because I was never out of jail from the time I was a kid until the time I found this program." And the guy didn't know what to say. Pat said: "Now I mean it, check it out."

Whether the guy ever checked it out, I don't know; but I know that the police department and the Narcotics Division kept their word to us. And they never staked us out , they never busted us in any way, shape, or form - never rousted us coming or going to meetings. And so, we in turn kept our word, we policed ourselves and we followed the Traditions as best we knew how. And this is what has made us basically begin to grow in the past 12 years."




Early Problems


When the July planning sessions resulted in the October meeting, almost everyone on the list of signees from what are reputed to be the original minutes of NA has backed off.

Over the years, perhaps for excellent reasons, Jimmy Kinnon and Sy Melas had disagreements. Sy was fond of citing the way things were done on the East Coast and Jimmy was quick to point out the 12 Traditions said this and that. Once a check came to the NA address for a $100 honorarium for Sy speaking at a hospital. Things like that created some of the early problems through the 1950’s. Please bear in mind that the 12 Traditions of AA were not adopted at the General Service Conference until 1955, so they were new.

Meetings stopped for several months in 1959. It was no ones fault; everyone thought someone else was covering the meeting. The members weren’t going bowling or fishing, they were likely off to a convention or going to other meetings. Responsibility just hadn’t become an item on our NA agenda. What changed things was the NA Tree and the commitments made by members of the Board of Trustees. Notably, Jack Waley made a joke at one of the early anniversaries by telling the group they had better be committed to NA, otherwise they were being ripped off for the price of the rubber chicken at the World Convention. Jack was probably the first NA to make a point of being loyal to NA. If he sponsored you and you got loaded, he would tell you, “Bring me a year. You let me down, let yourself down too.” He deserves a permanent place in our Fellowships memory. [look for more material on tape from 20th anniversary tape.]

Narcotics Anonymous was built by spirited, loving, grateful addicts who got caught up in the dream of a world wide fellowship of clean addicts working the 12 Steps of NA and helping others. That dream still exists. It must be understood that the vision comes before the reality here. The dreamers have to see it as possible and work against all opposition to bring it into reality. The opposition may ridicule, sabotage and show contempt for them in the beginning. But thank God, they made it and what we share is their dream of our recovery come true.

Steeped in selflessness, they sought no position at WSO. This was one factor that helped create the separation between volunteers and paid staff. The very experienced and informed NA members would always speak up when something inappropriate of violation of our structure came up. This may have helped create the idea that they were just radical and liked to complain. The growth of a gap between these experienced and informed members widened until Bob Stone saw them only as ‘vocal' and in the ‘minority.' I would suppose every organization has its followers who apply themselves more than the average member and are vocal about it. Actually, they thought they were not being vocal enough and experienced confusion and embarrassment when rebuffed by WSO personnel - Bob Stone or anyone else employed there. Their first thought was that they had it wrong and rechecked the written, approved structure and other facts. When they found themselves correct, they would really become vocal, minority or not. And when they were treated like traitors and malcontents, it was like plunging a dagger into their heart. Not usually over the issue but in the face of betrayal by a service arm and not being supported by their Fellow members. Now, here is a virus that can poison an entire Fellowship, given time.

Bob Stone spoke while explaining the 4th Edition debacle at the WSC about the blindness that affects people at WSO. That because of who was voicing concern, he would pay attention or ignore. This labeling led to tagging members as “good” and “bad.” That no one in a position to help saw this is a real shame. Many good members went down over this. They got loaded, lost their dreams and died. Many, many others are still in meetings today still dazed and confused about what happened and what went wrong. This is what we mean when we call them wounded. They deserve to have their dreams back. They earned them!

[7.4.04]