nicotine anonymous nicotine anonymous nicotine anonymous (nica) is a twelve-step program founded in 1982 for people desiring to quit smoking and live free of nicotine. as of july 2017, there are over 700 face-to-face meetings in 32 countries worldwide with the majority of these meetings occurring in the united states, iran, india, canada, brazil, the united kingdom, australia, russia and in various online community and social media platforms.. nica maintains that total abstinence from nicotine is necessary for recovery. nica defines abstinence as “a state that begins when all use of nicotine ceases. history