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When drinking or drugs have become a problem
For anyone in the United States who is worried about their own drinking or drug use, or about someone they love. Who answers at any hour. The signs. Why stopping suddenly can be dangerous, and how to do it safely. Where to start, what treatment is, how to choose it and how to pay for it. What to do if you went back to it. And the words to say when you call. One thing at a time.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- Someone may have overdosed, is having a seizure, or can’t be woken? Call 911. What to do while you wait: If someone may have overdosed.
- Need to talk to a person tonight? Call or text 988, at any hour. The 988 Lifeline says it is there for alcohol or drug use concerns too.
- Want to find treatment? SAMHSA’s National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357. Free and confidential, at any hour, in English and Spanish.
- Been drinking heavily every day? Don’t stop suddenly on your own. Withdrawal can be life-threatening, and a doctor can make it safer.
More help
- An urge that is here right now? Ride the urge.
- Someone may have overdosed? If someone may have overdosed.
- A plan for the worst nights? Safety plan and Hope box.
- Can’t sleep without it? Can’t sleep?
- Need a doctor and can’t pay? When you need a doctor and can’t pay.
- Worried about someone? When you’re worried about someone.
- Served in the military? For veterans, and the people beside them.
- Looking for work with a record? Fair chance job kit.
- All our free tools and Get help now.
Your mood, your thoughts, sleep, worry or an urge, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for thoughts of suicide and self-harm, depression, bipolar, anxiety, OCD, trauma, psychosis, eating, drinking and gambling, sleep, grief, ADHD, autism and memory, on one list.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- When you want to quit smoking: quitting cigarettes: the free quitlines and text programs, quit-smoking medicines, cravings, and what to do after a slip.
- When pain doesn’t go away: pain that has lasted for months: describing it so a doctor hears it, treatments that are not medicine, and what pain does to sleep and mood.
- When the heaviness won’t lift: what depression is and the ways it can look that aren’t sadness, seeing a doctor, and finding help you can afford.
- When gambling is the problem: the helpline that answers at any hour, getting through an urge, blocking and self-exclusion, and the debts.
- When someone you love is in jail or prison: for the family and friends outside: finding where they are, calls, letters, sending money, visiting, and what to tell the children.
- Coming home from jail or prison: the first days after release, in order: ID and papers, health insurance, work with a record, and a place to stay.
- When it’s HIV: HIV: the 72 hours after a possible exposure, testing, treatment and what “undetectable” means, the medicine that prevents it, your rights, and paying for care.
- When it’s hepatitis: hepatitis A, B and C: who should be tested, how each one spreads, the vaccines, the hours after a contact, and the medicines that cure hepatitis C.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and FindTreatment.gov, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, HealthCare.gov, the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Medicare.gov, the 988 Lifeline and the National Council on Problem Gambling. The phone numbers, hours and statements were read on their own pages on October 1, 2026. On October 9, 2026 the part on stopping safely was rewritten: it used to pass on three MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia articles, licensed text that may not be reused, and now comes from NIAAA and NIDA pages read that day (that part says what was lost). On October 14, 2026 we added what the FDA says about stopping benzodiazepines, what Medicare.gov says it covers, and what the CDC says about quitting vaping and about drinking, opioids and nicotine in pregnancy, all read that day. Things change, so check before you rely on any of them. Where we did not read something, such as withdrawal from drugs other than alcohol, opioids and benzodiazepines, any state’s Medicaid rules, or state laws on substance use in pregnancy, the page says so and does not guess. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a clinic or a treatment program, is not part of any government agency, and takes no money from any program or group named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].