Addiction Helpline America is committed to publishing accurate, trustworthy, and compassionate information about addiction, treatment options, and recovery. The people who come to our website are often facing one of the hardest moments of their lives — or trying to help someone they love through it. They deserve content they can trust.
This page explains the standards we hold ourselves to when creating, reviewing, and updating everything we publish.
Every piece of content on Addiction Helpline America is written with care, reviewed for accuracy, grounded in credible sources, and updated when the facts change. We prioritize clarity, safety, and respect for the people we serve over search rankings, ad revenue, or promotional interests.
Every article begins with research from authoritative, primary sources. Writers are briefed to prioritize government health agencies, peer-reviewed studies, and clinical guidelines over secondary reporting. Draft content is structured to directly answer the questions readers are actually asking.
Before publication, every statistic, treatment claim, medication detail, and legal reference is verified against its original source. Statistics older than three years are flagged for replacement with more current data when available.
Content involving medical, clinical, or treatment topics undergoes review by credentialed professionals in behavioral health, addiction counseling, or related fields. Reviewers evaluate content for accuracy, safety, and alignment with current clinical best practices.
Every article is edited for clarity, readability, tone, and alignment with our style guidelines on non-stigmatizing language. We avoid sensationalism, fear-based framing, and language that could shame or discourage someone from seeking help.
Content is reviewed for compliance with healthcare advertising standards including LegitScript certification requirements, HIPAA-adjacent privacy considerations, and state-specific legal disclaimers where relevant.
Once published, content is monitored and updated as needed. When clinical guidelines change, new data is released, laws are updated, or reader feedback identifies an error, we revise and republish with a new "Last Updated" date.
Our content draws from a consistent set of authoritative sources across government health agencies, clinical organizations, peer-reviewed research, and state health departments.
We cite peer-reviewed studies indexed on PubMed, the NIH National Library of Medicine, and established journals such as JAMA, The Lancet, the American Journal of Psychiatry, and Addiction. Academic sources are prioritized over secondary reporting whenever the original data is publicly accessible.
For state-specific content — including overdose statistics, Medicaid coverage, Good Samaritan laws, and naloxone access — we cite individual state health department publications and official government sources. This ensures local accuracy for readers seeking information specific to their state.
Clinical reviewers contributing to our content hold credentials in behavioral health, addiction treatment, or related fields. These may include:
Individual reviewer credentials are displayed on the relevant article pages where clinical review has been performed.
We do not follow a fixed calendar-based update schedule. Instead, we update content when any of the following occur:
Every published article displays a "Last Reviewed" or "Last Updated" date. When substantial revisions are made, the date is updated and the article is republished.
Despite our best efforts, errors can occur. When they do, we correct them promptly and transparently. If you identify a factual error, outdated statistic, broken link, or misleading claim in any of our content, we want to know.
To report a correction, email info@addictionhelplineamerica.com with the URL of the page, a description of the issue, and a source for the correct information where possible. We review correction requests within five business days and update content as appropriate.
Addiction Helpline America is a free service for readers, funded in part by paid placements from accredited treatment providers in our partner network. We maintain a strict separation between editorial content and commercial relationships:
We welcome feedback, correction requests, and questions about our editorial process.