Jimmy Kinnon
 |
Jimmy Kinnon |
James P. Kinnon (commonly known as Jimmy Kinnon or
"Jimmy K") was the founder of
Narcotics Anonymous (NA), an international association of recovering
drug addicts. During his lifetime, he was usually referred to as
"Jimmy K" due to NA's principle of
personal anonymity on the public level. It appears he never referred to himself as the
founder of NA although the record clearly shows that he played this role.
From the very start, unlike many other attempts to form self-help groups for drug addicts, Narcotics Anonymous was based on both the
Twelve Steps and the
Twelve Traditions devised by
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and adapted to the specific needs of NA. While there is
no official biography of Jimmy Kinnon, a certain amount of pertinent information can be found on the web and in print (see links and resources below).
Kinnon was born on
5 April,
1911 in
Paisley, Scotland. On
8 August,
1923, he arrived with his family on
Ellis Island, NY. He worked as a roofer, struggling with his drug addiction until he achieved permanent and complete abstinence from all drugs in Alcoholics Anonymous on
2 February 1950.
He and a few other drug addicts who had met in AA started holding a series of independent meetings for drug addicts, beginning
17 August 1953. The first documented recovery meeting of Narcotics Anonymous was held on
5 October 1953 in Southern California. Today, members of Narcotics Anonymous hold more than 30,000 weekly meetings in over 100 countries worldwide.
Kinnon is a key figure in the history of Narcotics Anonymous for several reasons. He wrote several portions of the
Little White Booklet, which formed the basis for NA's basic text, published in 1983 under the title
Narcotics Anonymous (ISBN 0912075023). This book also contains his anonymous biography, titled
We Do Recover. Kinnon also designed the NA logo and served as the volunteer office manager of NA's
World Service Office from the time it began to 1983.
Kinnon died on
9 July 1985 in
Los Angeles, having spent the last 35 years of his life as a
"clean" and recovering member of Narcotics Anonymous.
"If I ever have an epitaph on my headstone [...] it should read something like this: All we did was sow some seeds and worked and wrought to make this work, so that we and others could live -- in Peace, in Freedom and in Love." — James P. Kinnon, 1982
*
Unofficial Narcotics Anonymous archives*
Jimmy Kinnon photographs*
Transcript of Kinnon's 20th Anniversary of NA speech on August 18, 1973**
Transcript of Kinnon's 20th Anniversary of NA speech on August 18, 1973 (MS Word format)*
Jimmy Kinnon speaker tape, Santa Monica, 1982 (Real Audio file format)*
Jimmy Kinnon speaker tape, Narcotics Anonymous World Convention, New York City, 1983 (Real Audio file format)*
Narcotics Anonymous History (Real Audio and Windows Media formats)**
Panel on Jimmy Kinnon, 3 October 2003, Nashville History Conference, Real Audio format**
Panel on Jimmy Kinnon, 3 October 2003, Nashville History Conference, mp3 format**
A personal recollection of Jimmy Kinnon, Nashville History Conference, October 2003, Real Audio format*
Official Narcotics Anonymous websiteFurther reading
Miracles Happen: The Birth of Narcotics Anonymous in Words and Pictures, Revised version, ISBN 1-55776-341-0
My Years With Narcotics Anonymous. A History of N.A. by Bob Stone. 1997, Hulon Pendleton Publishing, L.L.C., Joplin, MO, U.S.A., ISBN 0-9654591-0-1
NA Audio Archive Sampler. 2002, Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc. ISBN 1-5576-469-4
*
Narcotics Anonymous*
Twelve Steps*
Twelve Traditions*
Addiction
