Who will your client meet when she or he attends an NA meeting? Unfortunately, we cannot give you a detailed demographic profile on the NA membership in your country today, for reasons already discussed when we considered research problems above. We do have some information, however, from an informal poll taken in 1989 of 5,000 Narcotics Anonymous members-a silhouette, if you will, rather than a profile:

Age
11% of our members are under 20
37% are between 20 and 30
48% are between 30 and 45
4% are over 45

Gender
64% of our members are male
36% are female

Meeting Attendance
50% of our members attend at least 4 meetings per week

Initial Referral
47% of our members were introduced to Narcotics Anonymous through a treatment facility or while incarcerated
29% were introduced to NA through another member
24% were introduced by a community professional (doctors, attorneys, clergy, judges)

Different types of NA meetings
There are a number of kinds of Narcotics Anonymous meetings. When referring a client to NA, you may want to enquire about these factors first. Meetings vary in:
1. Format. Some of the formats of which we are aware are open discussion, topic discussion, newcomer meetings, and studies of NA literature.
2. Size. Some are large (100 or more); some are very small (5 or less).
3. Smoking. Some meetings have tobacco smoking; others do not.
4. Special focus meetings.

Some meetings are intended specifically for women or for men. Some meetings are targeted especially at lesbians and/or gay men. Other meetings have their own special focus, intending to offer extra identification to those seeking a point of entry into Narcotics Anonymous.