How to Support Someone With a Drug Addiction

By U.S. News & World Report
December 11, 2025 | 7:00 PM

Nick Padlo’s addiction to alcohol and drugs didn’t happen overnight.

“I was using them as a tool to cope with depression and anxiety,” says the recovered addict and founder of Sophros Recovery in Florida.

But his addiction made his mental health even worse. Eventually, he realized getting help was imperative for his survival.

“My journey started at rehab, but for me, that wasn’t enough,” Padlo says.

While research shows that 75% of people who experience addiction eventually recover, the biggest battle is maintaining sobriety after rehab.

“I had to get more support, not only from friends and family, but also from being active in the community with SMART Recovery and (Alcoholics Anonymous),” Padlo says.

Identifying the signs of drug abuse and drug addiction is key to helping someone get the support they need to recover.

“There is a lot of stigma around drug addiction, and those in the midst of it usually lack support,” says Michele Leno, a psychologist who specializes in drug addiction.

[Read: How to Find the Best Recovery Treatment for Your Child: 5 Questions to Ask]

What Is Drug Abuse and Addiction?

The terms “abuse” and “addiction” are sometimes used interchangeably, but there are significant differences between the two.

Drug abuse

Drug abuse refers to the use of legal or illegal substances in a way that is harmful, not recommended, or not prescribed.

“Some examples include using painkillers (like opioids) to relax when a person is not in pain, taking more than a prescribed dose, or using a drug to get high or feel good,” says Traci Sweet, a psychologist who specializes in addiction and is the cofounder of Holon Health.

Other substances that can be abused include:

— Alcohol

— Opioids

— Stimulants (such as cocaine or methamphetamine)

— Sedatives (like benzodiazepines)

— Nicotine (found in tobacco and vaping products)

— Hallucinogens (like LSD or psilocybin)

Drug addiction (substance use disorder)

Drug addiction is a physical or psychological dependence on a drug that causes a person to be unable to stop using, even when they are aware of the negative consequences.

It is a chronic, relapsing disorder and brain disease that has affected approximately 16% of people in the United States ages 12 and older within the past year alone.

A parallel term for addiction is substance use disorder (SUD).

The four characteristics of SUD are:

— Incessant cravings to use the drug

— Loss of control (inability to stop using)

— Tolerance (need more of the drug to feel an effect)

— Withdrawal (physical or psychological symptoms occur when usage stops)

When it comes to the causes of SUD, multiple factors are believed to be at play. These include:

— Genetics

— Environmental stressors

— Social pressures

— Individual personality characteristics

— Underlying psychiatric conditions

[READ: How Yoga and Exercise Help With Addiction Recovery.]

How Can You Tell If Someone Has a Drug Addiction?

Common signs of drug addiction include:

— Getting drunk daily

— Aggressive behavior

— Changes in appearance

— Unusual odors

— Tremors

— Sweating

— Fatigue

— Lying

— Neglecting responsibilities

— Loss of interest in things that used to bring joy

— Sudden changes in personality

— Mood swings

— Paranoia

— Legal troubles

— Withdrawn from friends and family

— Lack of concern for other people

However, while some people with SUD show clear signs, others are more discreet with their drug use, making it hard for others to identify, especially if the person appears to be functioning well.

“A person can appear productive, but they could be secretly misusing prescription medication to cope with stress,” Sweet says. “Or an athlete can be using steroids or stimulants to drive performance, but not getting high from it.”

[READ How to Help Someone With PTSD]

How to Help Someone Struggling With Drug Addiction

Loved ones and support groups helped Padlo recover from drug addiction and not succumb to old habits.

If you don’t know how to support someone with SUD, you’re not alone.

Follow these tips to let them know you care and encourage them to get the help they need.

1. Lead with empathy

If you want to support someone with an addiction, experts say to treat them like a person, not an addict.

“Recognize addiction as a health issue, not a character flaw,” says Dr. Sherma Morton, an addiction medicine specialist and national medical director at Eleanor Health. “Speak with kindness and understanding to decrease stigma, as that often prevents individuals from seeking help.”

She encourages using supportive statements like, “I’m concerned because I’ve observed some changes, like our reduced time together or the impact on your health.”

“This fosters a sense of being understood and cared for,” Morton says.

2. Encourage them to seek help

Willpower alone often isn’t enough for someone to get the help they need, especially if they have a serious addiction, Sweet says.

“Ask about their needs and see if they are interested in treatment,” Leno adds. “Even if they do not respond favorably, they will remember your support.”

The different treatment options can be overwhelming to explore on their own.

“Today, we have more tools than ever to help people and keep them in their community, without the need for long inpatient stays and rehab, though both are necessary sometimes,” Sweet says.

The most conventional forms of addiction recovery include:

— Individual counseling

— Group rehabilitation

— Cognitive behavioral therapy

— 12-step programs

— Medication-based treatments (methadone or naltrexone for opioid addiction)

3. Provide consistent support

Recovery is a process that involves many ups and downs.

“Acknowledge progress, offer continuous encouragement and practice patience during difficult times,” Morton says. “This can involve regular check-ins, participating in healthy activities together or simply offering a nonjudgmental listening ear.”

The key is to avoid trying to solve all their problems for them.

4. Take care of yourself too

“Supporting someone through recovery can be emotionally challenging,” Morton says. “Remember to set boundaries, seek support and prioritize your well-being as well.”

You can set boundaries by being clear about what behaviors you will and will not tolerate. Stay consistent with these requests to help encourage responsibility and accountability with the user, Sweet says.

What Professionals Can Help Treat Drug Addiction?

There are many medical professionals who can help support someone with a drug addiction. These include:

— Addiction medicine doctors

— Psychiatrists

— Primary care providers

— Psychologists and licensed therapists

— Alcohol and drug abuse counselors

— Certified peer recovery specialists and coaches

— Community health workers

— Peer recovery specialists

Resources and Support for Drug Addiction

There are so many options for support. Some of these include:

— Organizations. Support groups and organizations — such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and SMART Recovery — offer nonjudgmental peer support and an opportunity to share experiences.

— Digital apps. WeConnect, Sober Grid and MyRecovery for 24/7 are all resources people can use to connect with others from the comfort of their home.

— Online resources. SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) and findtreatment.gov, offer exhaustive information on drug addiction recovery and can help you locate local support services and groups.

— Crisis situations. 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and local crisis hotlines provide free and confidential assistance. When you call, you’ll immediately be connected to a counselor who will ask if you are safe and then ask how you’re feeling so they know how to support you. From there, they will provide you with resources and tools that may help you.

There are also support groups for support persons to help their loved one through recovery. Al-Anon/Alateen (for loved ones of alcoholics) and Nar-Anon (for families of addicts), plus broader options like SMART Recovery Family & Friends, offering tools for caregivers and understanding for those supporting someone in recovery from addiction or mental health struggles, fostering healing for the whole family.

Bottom Line

Drug addiction, or SUD, is a challenging condition, but it’s also one that someone shouldn’t go through alone. There are so many ways to help someone who is currently struggling.

The key is to let them know you’re there for them and point to them helpful resources without enabling them.

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How to Support Someone With a Drug Addiction originally appeared on usnews.com

Asia’s next great gourmet destination? Inside Indonesia’s fine-dining revolution

By CNN
August 11, 2026 | 5:44 AM

More than 120 years ago, Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, National Geographic magazine’s first female writer, photographer and board member, chronicled her travels through colonial Indonesia in her book “Java: The Garden of the East.”She was particularly fascinated by a feast known as the rijsttafel (rice table), a multi-dish banquet that was served in the grand Hotel de Nederlanden in Batavia, as Jakarta was known then.Scidmore vividly recalled a “conglomerate mountain” of food, including bits of fish, duck, chicken, beef, omelettes and onions piled alongside steaks, salads, curries, chutneys, spices and tropical fruits.The sumptuous spread had something to satisfy everyone amongst the 100 or so guests that filled the grand dining hall — even the “squeamish folk, unseasoned tourists and well-starched Britons with a small sense of humor.”Like Scidmore, most early Western documentation of Indonesia’s flavors focused on the opulent colonial feast. Little else was known about the diverse and rich flavors found across the enormous archipelago, in spite of it being home to the fabled Spice Islands, which sparked a 16th- and 17th-century “spice rush” for cloves, nutmeg and mace by Portuguese, Dutch and British traders.In more recent decades, the world has become better acquainted with some of the beloved humble foods found in Indonesian homes and warungs (street-side eateries), with satay, nasi goreng and beef rendang among the most familiar dishes beloved by travelers.But now, there’s a rising number of contemporary chefs who are elevating the national cuisine on the global stage by reimagining its famous spices into fine-dining experiences, while sharing the sophisticated stories of Indonesian flavor through a different lens.Made up of thousands of islands dotted across two oceans, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic country. It would be an understatement to say the country’s cuisine is wildly varied.As a result, “the existing understanding of Indonesian food culture is very shallow,” says William Wongso, an Indonesian culinary expert and author.Boasting an enviable array of regional ingredients and flavors, the country’s chefs have been working to educate international gourmets — and even locals — about the beauty of Indonesian cuisine.And Jakarta, its capital city, has become a breeding ground for the movement. Wongso compares it to the dining scenes in New York or Shanghai, which draw talent from all over their respective countries. “Everybody wants to come here to make a thing,” he says. “So people from different regions bring flavors and food cultures.”Some open humble warungs and serve their home cooking. A few look beyond recipes and focus on elements that make Indonesian cuisine unique for a wider audience, reinventing the whole experience.A modern, fine-dining blueprintEnter August, which opened in 2021 inside a gleaming skyscraper in Jakarta’s central business district.The duo behind the concept, Jakartan Hans Christian and Budi Cahyadi from the Indonesian island of Lombok, were definitely not the first people to promote Indonesian flavors — Christian emphasizes figures like Wongso, for example, who have been championing gastro-diplomacy abroad for decades.But August has spearheaded a new format and standard for the country’s fine-dining restaurants: a modern, Indonesia-inspired tasting menu operating at a world-class level of culinary execution and service.The industry has already noticed. August became one of the few Indonesian restaurants to achieve international recognition, placing 42nd on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026 and earning accolades at The Best Chef Awards.“When I came back to Jakarta, you either had classic French fine dining or very casual bistros, mostly run by expat chefs,” says Christian, who sharpened his skills in Malaysia and the United States before returning to Jakarta in 2016.“There were no locally grown chefs doing their own thing with their own roots or interpretations. For me, August is about the pride of telling our own story … and a responsibility to not only embrace our roots, but also relearn them.”Cahyadi, with more than a decade of hospitality experience in a luxury hotel, agrees. He currently helms the front of house in August’s dining room.“In Jakarta, you either had to pick a place where the food was good but the service was lousy, or a casual place where service was bad but food was decent. When I met Hans, I knew it was time for a place where food is excellent and hospitality is delivered at the exact same time,” he says.In 2019, the two started August as a private kitchen concept before turning it into the current restaurant in 2021.Inside August’s intimate dining room — warmly lit with dark wood accents and a bright, open stainless-steel kitchen at the end of the dining room — the restaurant’s two tasting menus blend familiar Indonesian flavor profiles into completely unexpected forms.Their daikon dish is inspired by the format of Japanese agedashi tofu — silken tofu coated in starch, deep-fried until golden brown and traditionally dressed in dashi sauce.August’s version is served with a cuko sauce — a sweet and sour reduction made with tamarind and palm sugar featuring a tangy umami taste.It reminds locals of eating pempek, the Indonesian fishcake. A drizzle of andaliman pepper oil, Indonesia’s version of Sichuan peppercorns, gives the dish a unique, numbing spicy kick.Another highlight features Japanese Kimendai fish cooked by pouring hot oil over the scales until it crisps up while keeping the flesh tender. It sits in a kuah garang asem (yellow sour curry sauce) from the Central Java region.The sourness comes from a native green fruit called belimbing wuluh (or bilimbi), which looks like an oblong tomato but tastes extremely acidic, while ginger flowers provide a touch of freshness.The curry base is made from a yellow bumbu — made of aromatics such as turmeric and lemongrass. Often compared with France’s mother sauces (a group of five master sauces, such as Béchamel and Hollandaise, that are said to be the foundation of classical French cooking), Indonesian bumbu are spiced sauces that take hours to caramelize and form the base of many different dishes.Christian says that August has slowly evolved over the years, with more Indonesian flavors being incorporated into his menu as the team gains confidence and the demand grows.“In the beginning, our menu leaned more towards classic European because that was my formal training. When more international guests came, they expected more Indonesian flavor,” says Christian.Now, with half of their guests coming from overseas, the team tries to find the balance carefully without being intimidating.“Finding that balance was crucial — doing modern Indonesian cooking in a way that’s exciting for locals without just putting expensive ingredients in a traditional dish. We want to start from a product or a cooking method and create something new out of that idea,” says Christian.The founders admit that Jakarta has few fine dining concepts compared to fellow Southeast Asian cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Manila and Bangkok.“We knew we were a few years behind, but we are in progress to catch up. Over the years, the interest from people who want to learn and taste the flavor of Indonesia is growing,” says Christian. “For the past five to six years, we’ve been on a mission to prove people wrong.”It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t just about the menus, but the operation.They were the first restaurant to impose a reservation fee for diners in Jakarta. It also took a few years to educate their diners to be punctual for the tasting menu so the table could start the menu together – an often tricky feat in Jakarta traffic.But August’s success helped set new operational benchmarks for the city, proving that local diners were ready to enjoy high-end tasting menus.In the years since, Jakarta’s fine-dining community has expanded rapidly.ESA, opened in 2023, proudly offers a menu called New Jakarta Cuisine. Kindling, which opened the following year, blends Indonesian-Chinese dishes with French technique. Selera, newly opened this year in the Keraton at the Plaza hotel, emphasizes the nation’s culinary heritage with local ingredients.Outside the capital, things are changing, too, particularly in the country’s tourist hotspots. Bali, for example, has evolved to offer more than just fine resort dining and Western restaurants catering to visitors.Locavore NXT, helmed by Dutch-Indonesian duo Eelke Plasmeijer and Ray Adriansyah, serves a tasting menu that highlights local ingredients. The independent concept also has a farm, laboratory and store.Meanwhile, young, local and independent concepts are slowly increasing elsewhere in the country.Overlooking the historical Prambanan Temple and Mount Merapi, Suwatu in Yogyakarta, the royal cultural heart of Java, is an upscale hillside restaurant with a menu packed with local dishes cooked by local villagers.In Bandung, both MMBS (Mari Merangkai Bunga Seroja) and Plataran Bandung serve local Sundanese cuisine, with hyper-seasonal tasting menus featuring a creative twist.Not just about the price tagAt the same time, classic Indonesian restaurants are reexamining the stories they would like to tell.For a long time, the 1945 Restaurant inside the Fairmont Jakarta has been regarded as the city’s only high-end Indonesian restaurant in a five-star hotel.Taking over as the chef de cuisine this year, Yopi Tumeru has been determined to inject fresh ideas into the 11-year-old establishment — and he was inspired by the traditional rijsttafel concept.His vision of the legendary feast isn’t only a sumptuous buffet but an educational exploration of Indonesian cuisine.“For many years, Indonesian food was presented either as home cooking, street food or part of a hotel buffet… Our Rijsttafel was designed as a culinary journey through the archipelago. We preserve the generous and communal character of the traditional experience while refining the portions, presentation and sequence,” Tumeru says.The menu includes dishes such as wagyu beef rendang, duck leg confit with sambal madura, tuna collar rica-rica (rahang tuna), tempe nachos and es teler cheesecake — all created to shine new light onto old dishes.For chefs like Tumeru, presenting Indonesian cuisine in a haute gastronomic format isn’t just about slapping on higher price tags and using expensive ingredients.They are proudly showcasing the often undervalued Indonesian cuisine — from the ingredients, the knowledge and the labor to the cultural heritage.“Rendang, for example, is not simply beef cooked in coconut milk. It requires patience, careful control of the heat, and an understanding of how the spices develop over time,” says Tumeru, who feels chefs have a responsibility to help guests appreciate that complexity.Despite giving Indonesian cuisine an upscale makeover, all of the chefs insist their roots and hearts remain with the humble, family-run warung. They encourage diners to ask for street-food tips, which might otherwise feel intimidating without a local guide.The movement isn’t about replacing affordable neighborhood joints. It’s about broadening how the world sees Indonesian food, using fine dining as a welcoming gateway into their country’s vast culinary heritage.“There is still a mindset that Indonesian food cannot be expensive — that is not true,” says Wongso.“These high-end restaurants, if they’re doing it right, they’re quite helpful in changing people’s mindsets. Indonesian food cannot be cheap. It takes immense labor and skill. A single sauce or spice paste takes hours of balancing and preparation. You can Google many things, but you can’t Google taste.”The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

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