Our literature states: "Narcotics Anonymous is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We are recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other stay clean. This is a program of complete abstinence from all drugs. There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using. We suggest that you keep an open mind and give yourself a break. Our program is a set of principles written so simply that we can follow them in our daily lives. The most important thing about them is that they work.

There are no strings attached to N.A. We are not affiliated with any other organizations, we have no initiation fees or dues, no pledges to sign, no promises to make to anyone. We are not connected with any political, religious or law enforcement groups, and are under no surveillance at any time. Anyone may join us, regardless of age, race, sexual identity, creed, religion or lack of religion.

We are not interested in what or how much you used or who your connections were, what you have done in the past, how much or how little you have, but only in what you want to do about your problem and how we can help. The newcomer is the most important person at any meeting because we can only keep what we have by giving it away. We have learnt from our group experience that those who keep coming to our meetings regularly, stay clean."
(C) 1986 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc PO Box 9999, Van Nuys, CA 91409, Reprinted with permission from the Little White Booklet, Narcotics Anonymous

Our members find support guidance and identification with regular attendance at Narcotics Anonymous meetings.  People interested in Narcotics Anonymous for themselves are encouraged to attend a meeting and see if they are able to identify or find answers there.  NA’s primary service center maintains a comprehensive meeting locator that may be helpful in finding a conveniently located meeting.  Meeting times and addresses sometimes shift so calling the nearest Area website or Helpline number to confirm the details is often helpful.

Florida Regional Service Committee:

The purpose of a Regional Service Committee is to be supportive of its Areas and Groups and their primary purpose, by linking together the Areas and Groups within its Region, by helping Areas and Groups with their basic situations and needs, and by encouraging the growth of the fellowship.

The Florida Regional Service Committee (RSC) is a Committee made up of the Regional Committee Members from the Florida Region.   This committee is designed to provide service to its member areas. An Area Service Committee and RSC are similar  in nature and purpose, but their respective functions are slightly different. While an ASC serves the common needs of its member Groups, the Florida Region serves three basic functions:

	The primary function of the RSC is to unify the Areas within the Region.
	The secondary function of the RSC is to carry the message of recovery through Sub-Committee actions.
	The third function of the RSC is to contribute to the growth of NA both by initiating much of the work to be finalized at the World Service Conference and by helping our World Services.

 

Florida RSO History and Profile:

In July 1982, the newly formed Florida Regional Service Committee reached the conclusion that a need existed to establish a central office in order to create a reliable method for literature distribution throughout Florida. 

A member in St. Petersburg volunteered a room in her apartment for the task; thus, the first office location was opened. It was located at 4545 10^th St. The Florida fellowship had grown to over a hundred meetings. The “approval copy” of the Basic Text and the “stories booklet” had just been produced and circulated throughout the fellowship. 

In December 1982, the Florida Regional Service Committee decided that the fellowship was in need of a more professional atmosphere. This necessitated that the next location would be accessible during normal business hours. Discussions began regarding establishing an office that would be open to any member of the fellowship. Charles K. began looking for potential locations in Fort Lauderdale. There were no funds available for such an endeavor, so the least expensive location was selected. 

The office was actually a second-floor hallway that connected two buildings. The Royal Trust Bank sold the attached office building to a private commercial group and the walkway between the two buildings became part of the office complex. The RSO occupied a mere 64 square feet of space. 

The office opened for business in March 1983, at the 2810 East Oakland Park Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. It was decided that the office would store and distribute literature to the entire Florida fellowship, print a regional meeting list, newsletter and regional minutes, and store records and archives, including speaker tapes. The storage of regional minutes and archives was a valuable tool in compiling this book as all of the original documents were found in the current office when the Florida History Project began.

The Florida RSC passed a motion in August 1983 stating, “…that Florida Regional Service Office pay for shipping charges on literature sales to any area in Florida.” All the areas in Florida purchase their literature from the RSO and have done so since this motion passed. In hindsight, this motion ensured the future of the Florida Regional Service Office. The South Florida Region along with other neighboring regions continues to purchase their literature from the Florida RSO.

When representatives of the ad-hoc committee searched through the old archives, they discovered the original reel-to-reel tapes from the 11^th World Convention and the 6^th World Literature Conference. These old tapes were transferred onto compact discs (CD). Sally E. from California was the main speaker at WCNA-11 in 1981. At WCNA-30 in San Diego in 2003, Sally E. was on an old-timers panel. After the convention, Sally was given a CD of her speaking in Miami in 1981. A note was included: “Sally - We apologize for delivering your tape from WCNA-11 twenty-two years late.”

In 1985, the office was relocated to larger quarters on NW 34^th Court in the Oakland Park section of Fort Lauderdale, where it remained for several years. The office was incorporated in 1986 and a Board of Directors was appointed to serve. Shortly afterward, a full-time employee was hired, and furnishings, data processing equipment, and storage racks were purchased. The focus during those early years was to amass a large stockpile of literature in order to keep pace with the explosive growth of the fellowship. 

The office remained in Fort Lauderdale until the early 90’s, after which it relocated several times to Orlando, Tampa, back again to South Florida to West Palm Beach in 1997 to West Palm Beach, and later to Lantana. In the summer of 2003, the office again moved, this time to its current location in Lakeland, Florida. The actual revenues in 1982 were under $3,000. Two decades later, the annual budget exceeded $600,000 and the original 64 square feet had grown to over 3,000. When literature orders from the WSO arrive at the RSO in 2003, they no longer come in small boxes, but are shipped on large pallets.

Today, the Florida Regional Service Office (FRSO) serves as the distribution center of N.A. literature and other material as deemed appropriate by the FRSO Board of Directors. In addition to these services in 2000, the RSO began providing services to conventions throughout the fellowship, including registration packages and merchandising purchases. It also compiles and distributes Regional minutes for the Florida region, leases space and provides services for the Florida Regional Convention and the South Florida Regional Convention boards. It stores archives from areas within the state as well as convention and regional archives. Its customer base extends well beyond the state of Florida and includes meetings and areas in Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas and some countries in the Caribbean, South and Central America. 

This Corporation shall be responsible to the Florida Regional Service Committee. It will comply with the Articles of Incorporation of the State of Florida and the By-Laws of the Florida Regional Service Office, Inc. (FRSO, Inc.) The Board of Directors shall exercise the powers of the corporation, control its property and conduct its affairs, except as otherwise provided by law and subject to the limitations contained in the Articles of Incorporation.