Google has launched a new website called Recover Together in honor of National Recovery Month.
The site, which launched Thursday morning, aims to provide resources for people trying to overcome their opioid and alcohol addictions. While the site features recovery testimonies and facts about addiction, treatment, and prevention, its main features are the two new Google Maps tools that, according to Google’s press release, “connect people with crucial recovery resources.”
The Recovery Locator Tool and the Naloxone Locator Tool, as their titles may suggest, provide users with information on where they can find recovery support meetings and the life-saving drug Naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan.
With both tools, users can either plug in their address or simple phrases like “Narcan near me” to find the resources closest to them.
“People come to Google every day to seek information on addiction treatment, prevention and recovery,” a Google program manager and recovering addict wrote in the press release. “Just last month, we saw an all-time high in search interest for ‘rehab near me,’ ‘addiction treatment near me’ and ‘how to help an addict.’”
The website comes just two years after a report from the Verge revealed that Google Ads were inadvertently providing users looking for recovery resources with rehab scams. Google responded by banning several ads, even ones for legitimate centers like Advanced Recovery Systems.
According to the Verge, Recover Together will not feature any ads but will provide basic recovery information with links to trusted sources.
In a statement to Mashable, Google said that visits to the website will not be linked to specific Google accounts and it will not use Naloxone-related searches to target ads.
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