Google’s new tools help find drug addiction recovery resources

Google has launched tools to help people recover from drug addiction and also help them to locate places to treat overdose in an emergency situation. Google has announced that it is launching a new map feature to help people recover from drug addiction. The tool will guide people where to go to attend more than 83,000 recovery meetings, which take place in multiple locations such as community centres.

Google Maps will show people where they can find Naloxone, which is a non-prescription drug that can treat overdoses in an emergency situation, as a separate tool. People can find the drug if they type “Naloxone near me” or “Narcan near me” into the search bar.

The new website “Recover Together” will be linked under the search bar on Google’s home page. This new page from Google will not feature ads and instead, it will offer basic information on recovery, treatment, and prevention with links to trusted resources.

The search giant says a link to its new site will appear underneath the search box. Google added that it is launching the new tool in honour of the 30th annual National Recovery Month, an initiative launched by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Health professionals and government officials in the US are contemplating on how to deal with drug addiction, especially opioid epidemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 130 people die each day in the US from opioid overdoses.

Google’s latest feature is targeted at the people currently under-recovery from drug addiction. The search giant said that it saw an “all-time high” of people searching for recovery treatment on the company’s search engine. According to Google, more than 23 million Americans are recovering from addiction.

The new feature appears to be more useful than a Google search for “rehab”. Searching for this keyword puts three or four ads at the top before the actual search results.