Im not sure about NA because i have no experience with it but i believe it's basically a copy of AA, especially if it uses the same type of 12 step program. These programs use the same tactics as religion. The idea is to remove personal responsibility so that you can wrestle the problem from a view of something that is being done to you rather than something you are doing to yourself. Most people can't handle personal responsibility. So the program works for them. If you have a decent level of intelligence, it probably won't. Most people are using substances to escape their problems and become physically addicted which leads to a cycle of rationalizing why they need the substance and how they are just the victim. In my experience, heroin addicts seem to have the most dramatic victim/abuser loop and they resist treatment the strongest and loudest. I think some of that is due to the addictive strength of the drug. Knowing how the system works can allow you to use it in the way you need to. The most effective way I've ever seen to break an addiction is to remove ones self from the current atmosphere they are in. Sometimes it takes moving to a completely different location. But sometimes that isn't possible and these groups can act like a support group to help you survive the situation without turning to the substance. The programs do work if you let them. It never worked for me, but i wasnt an addict I was forced to go because i got in trouble in the military for drinking. I was just young, dumb, and full of "got to keep up with my buddies". Once i left the military, i basically stopped and became a casual drinker (I have beer in my fridge from last 4th of July). But i did get to see lots of people and lots of reactions to the program. Everything from the guy just fighting the urge to drink, knowing he has a support team behind him to get him through, to the helpless people who just can't seem to get out of their own way. Friends of bill programs work for some people. But usually only the ones who want to let it work for them. You cannot break addiction in someone who doesn't want to break it. If you are determined to break an addiction, the choice of program is much less important than just the act of trying.