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Narcotics Anonymous first reached Scotland around 1980, in the form of literature sent from America. In the summer of that year, the first N.A. meeting was held. The venue was Alban House in Glasgow. The meeting remained open for three months, then closed. However the Narcotics Anonymous message continued to survive, and in the summer of 1981 in Flowerhill Church, Airdrie another meeting opened. This continued for one year, before closing. Through a few members still believing in Narcotics Anonymous, the message continued to grow. NA badges from conventions  Simultaneously the N.A. message was reaching other parts of Scotland. In Dalry in Edinburgh around 1984 another N.A. meeting had started, although it was regular until 1986. In July 1985 in Dunfermline, Fife a meeting began, which has remained opened until the present day and is our oldest surviving meeting. It was shortly followed by a meeting in Buckhaven. For a time meetings popped up and closed in various locations, Campbelltown, Inverness and Airdrie. By 1992 there were six meetings a week in Glasgow, 3 in Edinburgh and a meeting each in Dunfermline, Buckhaven and Dumbarton. Also in 1992, on the 20th, 21st and 22nd of May Scotland held it's first Convention, attracting around 150 addicts from all over the UK, Canada and the USA. The convention was a tremendous success and actually went some way to funding a PO Box and the first Scottish Help-line. Shortly after a Public Information sub-committee and Hospitals and Institutions Subcommittee were formed. The second Scottish was held in Dumbarton and the third in Edinburgh City Chambers. The Fourth and Fifth Scottish conventions were held in Glasgow at the Pearce Institute in Govan and the Victory Christian Centre respectively. By 1993 there were 15 meetings in Scotland, the message had spread up the East Coast with meetings opening in Bo'Ness and Dundee. In the West most recovery centered around Glasgow, where H&I were now carrying meetings into a respite centre in Helensburgh and into a prison in Greenock. In 1995 there were a total of forty meetings and many addicts across Scotland getting clean and living lives that once seemed but an impossible dream. Meetings were held in Bo'Ness, Buckhaven, Dumbarton, Dumfries, Dundee, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Irvine and Paisley.  During 1995 the Scottish Area of Narcotics Anonymous split into two areas, the East Coast of Scotland Area and the West Coast of Scotland Area. The East Coast went north as far as Aberdeen and Inverness and extended south to Newcastle. The West Coast went from Dumbarton down to Dumfries. Meeting attendance steadily went up and news of NA's growth in Scotland was spreading with many professional organisations recognising Narcotics Anonymous, with more and more institutions requesting meetings in there establishments as well as sending their clients to NA...

Glasgow & West Coast Public Information

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