Your Roommate Is Using Tonight

Your roommate is using tonight and the apartment is not safe. Leave if you can, and get to an NA meeting. You do not have to win the argument first.

Need help with this? Talk to someone now. Free and confidential. For you, or for someone you're worried about.

Key takeaway

Your roommate is using and the place you live is full of it. You do not have to debate them. You can leave, even to a hallway or a car, and join an NA meeting. A desire to stop using is hard to hold in a room where someone is not stopping. If the night turns dangerous, call 911.

Last updated: Tue Oct 06 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

They are using in the place you are trying not to. The smell, the sound, the offer, the casual cruelty of it happening three feet from your bed. You have a speech ready about respect. Speeches do not compete well with a drug that is already out. You need a different room more than you need the last word.

Leave if you can. Take the meeting with you.

NA asks for a desire to stop using. That desire is under attack in your own kitchen, which does not cancel it. You can attend a meeting without being clean. There are no dues or fees. You can listen and not mention your roommate's name. Anonymity works better that way.

Get out of earshot

Headphones and a virtual NA meeting are the minimum if you cannot leave the building. A local room is better if the hallway is a trap. NA's finder points to area sites. The meetings search is unverified. Confirm the time. Do not stay to supervise their night. You are not their counselor. NIDA says mutual-help is not treatment, for you or for them.

If they will not wake up or cannot breathe, call 911 and stay only long enough to get help there. If they are violent, call 911 and get out. Nar-Anon is for people whose problem is someone else's addiction, when that is the truer meeting. Tonight, if the using you are fighting is also yours, stay with NA.

Tonight

Do not win the apartment. Win the hour. Listen at one meeting away from their setup. If you might hurt yourself, call or text 988. A treatment referral is (800) 653-9376. Calling is free. Treatment providers pay for the referral.

Additional Resources

Sources cited on this page:

Common Questions

Do I have to kick them out tonight?

No. You may not have the legal power or the safety to do that. You can remove yourself. A meeting is not an eviction. If you are being threatened, call 911.

Can I stay clean in the same room?

Some nights you cannot, and pretending otherwise is how you use. Virtual NA meetings with headphones, or a room across town, are more realistic than a speech. The desire to stop using is the requirement. You do not have to be clean already to attend a first meeting.

What if they are my only housing?

Then the problem is practical and scary. A meeting will not hand you a lease. It can get you through the hour. Call 911 if you are unsafe. For treatment or a different level of help, call (800) 653-9376. Calling is free. Treatment providers pay for the referral.

Is Nar-Anon for me or for them?

If you are the one who uses, NA is your meeting. Nar-Anon is for people affected by someone else's addiction. If you are both, you can need NA for your using and still be furious about theirs. Do not skip your own meeting to manage them.

Where do I go if I cannot be in the apartment?

NA's virtual search, or a local meeting from the finder. Confirm the listing. The meetings search here is not verified. Call or text 988 if you might hurt yourself.