Area Service Committees
The Area Service Committee (ASC)
The area committee is the primary means by which the services of a local NA community are administered. The area committee is composed of group service representatives, administrative officers (chairperson, vice chairperson, secretary, and treasurer), subcommittee chairpersons, and the area’s regional committee members. The area committee elects its own officers, subcommittee chairpersons, and RCMs.
Area service committees are ultimately responsible to the groups they serve. Narcotics Anonymous groups send group service representatives (GSRs) to serve on the area committee. While still maintaining final responsibility and authority for area services, they invest enough delegated authority in their GSRs—and through them, in the area committee—for the necessary work to get done. NA groups also send money to the area committee, money needed to coordinate panels, maintain phonelines, and conduct public information activities. Through their contributions of money and manpower, the groups exercise both their responsibility and their authority for NA services. How does the area service committee relate in turn to NA’s regional and world services? In much the same way as the group relates to the area committee: through carefully selected representatives who are delegated the authority necessary for effective service.