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90 free Addiction Recovery trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
85 free addiction recovery and substance abuse trivia questions with answers. Recovery has a history worth knowing: two drunks in Akron in 1935, a nun handing out medallions, a prayer lifted from an obituary, and a book nicknamed for its thick paper. This quiz covers the fellowships (AA, NA, Al-Anon, Gamblers and Overeaters Anonymous, SMART, LifeRing, Celebrate Recovery, Women for Sobriety), the milestones (Betty Ford, Hazelden, Oxford House) and the science (DSM-5 criteria, dopamine, delirium tremens, Rat Park, stages of change). It also covers the substance abuse facts that turn up in health classes, prevention weeks and workplace wellness days: how fast nicotine reaches the brain, what a standard drink is, why alcohol withdrawal can kill, the cough medicine a German company trademarked as heroic, the pharmacist who invented vaping, the fallen agent behind the red ribbon, Prohibition and the drinking age, blood alcohol limits, the schedules of controlled substances, D.A.R.E., Just Say No and the medications and public-health tools that save lives today: naloxone, methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone, disulfiram, contingency management, Portugal's decriminalisation and Vancouver's Insite. It is written respectfully for people in recovery, counsellors, students and anyone running a recovery-month, Red Ribbon Week or Dry January quiz. Easy questions ask what a sponsor is; the hard end wants Dr. Bob's specialty and the Latin behind 'delirium'. Every answer has been checked against a reference encyclopaedia entry, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
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Q 01In which Ohio city did Bill W. and Dr. Bob meet in 1935, founding Alcoholics Anonymous?
Akron
Bill was on a failed business trip and, fearing relapse, asked to be put in touch with another alcoholic; Henrietta Seiberling introduced them.
Q 02What date is celebrated as the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous?
June 10, 1935
It marks Dr. Bob's last drink; Bill W.'s own sobriety date is December 11, 1934.
Q 03What was Dr. Bob Smith's medical specialty?
Colorectal surgery
He stayed sober from June 1935 until his death from colon cancer in 1950 and is said to have helped some 5,000 alcoholics.
Q 04Through which Christian revivalist movement did AA's founders meet?
The Oxford Group
Its American leader Sam Shoemaker ran the Calvary Rescue Mission where Ebby Thacher got sober before visiting Bill.
Q 05Which old friend visited Bill Wilson in November 1934, refused a drink and said he'd 'got religion'?
Ebby Thacher
Ebby became Bill's guide in sobriety; the visit is where the idea of one alcoholic talking to another began.
Q 06Which New York doctor treated Bill W. and framed alcoholism as an 'allergy' plus mental obsession?
William Silkworth
His 'Doctor's Opinion' opens the Big Book; his hospital used the deliriant belladonna during detox.
Q 07Why is AA's basic text nicknamed 'the Big Book'?
The first edition used thick paper
Published in 1939, it has sold 30 million copies and the Library of Congress named it one of 88 'Books that Shaped America'.
Q 08Where in the Big Book are the Twelve Steps first laid out?
Start of 'How It Works'
The 'Ninth Step Promises' come in Chapter 6, 'Into Action'.
Q 09The first of the Twelve Steps says members admit they are what over their addiction?
Powerless
It refers to lack of control over the compulsion despite consequences; Overeaters Anonymous reads it as 'powerless over compulsive overeating'.
Q 10What is the term for the experienced member who guides a newcomer through the Twelve Steps?
Sponsor
NA describes one as 'simply another addict in recovery who is willing to share his or her journey'; sponsees usually do their Fifth Step with them.
Q 11Which step involves reviewing a written moral inventory with another person?
Fifth
The inventory itself is the Fourth Step; the Ninth is making amends.
Q 12AA's Twelve Traditions were formally adopted at its first international convention in which year?
1950
Bill W. first published them in the April 1946 Grapevine as 'Twelve Points to Assure Our Future'.
Q 13Which theologian is credited with the Serenity Prayer, adopted by AA from about 1941?
Reinhold Niebuhr
The first AA group found it in a 1941 New York Herald Tribune obituary; Niebuhr had used it in sermons since about 1932.
Q 21Which twelve-step fellowship first met in Los Angeles in 1957 and offers a 'twenty questions' self-test?
Gamblers Anonymous
Publicity from columnist Paul Coates helped; GA's 'twenty questions' is a self-test for compulsive gambling.
Q 22Overeaters Anonymous was founded in 1960 after Rozanne S. attended a meeting of which fellowship?
The gamblers' group
She realised the Twelve Steps could apply to food; the first meeting was in Hollywood.
Q 23What does SMART stand for in the secular programme SMART?
Self-Management and Recovery Training
Q 14Which Akron nun gave early AA patients a Sacred Heart medallion to return before a first drink?
Sister Ignatia
The sobriety chip tradition itself is thought to have started in Indianapolis in 1942; there is still no official AA medallion.
Q 15Sobriety coins are traditionally the size of what?
A poker chip
Standard medallions are 34 mm across; they are AA culture rather than conference-approved literature.
Q 16Approximately how many members did AA estimate it had in 2021?
Nearly two million
Active in 180 countries, with 73 percent of members in the US and Canada.
Q 17A 2020 Cochrane review found Twelve-Step Facilitation for AA produced higher rates of what?
Continuous abstinence
It also found better healthcare cost savings than treatments such as CBT.
Q 18Who was the first woman to achieve long-term sobriety in AA and founded the National Council on Alcoholism?
Marty Mann
She organised the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism in 1944 to spread the message that alcoholism is a disease, not a moral failing.
Q 19Which fellowship for families and friends of alcoholics was co-founded in 1951 by Bill W.'s wife Lois?
Al-Anon
Alateen followed for teenagers; Al-Anon is the third-largest twelve-step programme.
Q 20Narcotics Anonymous, the second-largest twelve-step fellowship, was founded in which year?
1953
By 2024 it held 77,000 meetings a week in 145 countries; its Basic Text says NA 'has no opinion on outside issues'.
It draws on cognitive behavioural therapy and motivational interviewing rather than a higher power.
Q 24What does Rational Recovery call the 'addictive voice'?
The Beast
Trimpey's AVRT technique treats every pro-drinking thought as 'the bark of Beast'; the group declared meetings obsolete in 1998.
Q 25Women for Sobriety's 'New Life' programme was created in 1976 by which sociologist?
Jean Kirkpatrick
She drew on Emerson's 'Self-Reliance' and New Thought as an alternative to AA.
Q 26What is the motto of LifeRing Secular Recovery?
Empower your sober self
It grew out of Secular Organizations for Sobriety and incorporated under its own name in 1999.
Q 27The Christ-centred programme Celebrate Recovery began in 1991 at which megachurch?
Saddleback
John Baker wrote its curriculum; it claims 5 million participants across 35,000 churches.
Q 28Which former First Lady disclosed her alcoholism and founded a treatment centre in Rancho Mirage?
Betty Ford
She confronted her prescription-drug and alcohol dependence in 1978 after a family intervention.
Q 29The Betty Ford Center merged in 2014 with which Minnesota treatment pioneer founded in 1949?
Hazelden
The combined Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is headquartered in Minnesota, home of the '28-day' treatment model.
Q 30The first Oxford House sober-living home opened in 1975 when residents of a closing halfway house did what?
Took over the lease themselves
Paul Molloy led them; there are now nearly 3,000 democratically run Oxford Houses.