What Certification Do You Need to Advertise Addiction Treatment?

What this means for you

• Google restricts recovery-oriented drug and alcohol addiction services. In the US and Canada you need LegitScript Addiction Treatment Certification, then Google's own certification.
• Meta requires LegitScript certification and written permission for addiction treatment ads that target people in the United States.
• On Google, Australia, France, Ireland and New Zealand allow these ads from government entities only. Other locations are not on Google's list.
• Lead generators and marketers that refer patients to other providers for compensation can't get LegitScript's certification, and Google bars addiction services that aren't eligible for it.
• Running addiction ads before certification can count against the application. Mental health lines that don't promote drug and alcohol treatment can run meanwhile.

MedScale Health, a paid acquisition agency for telehealth brands and clinics, helps addiction treatment programs get certified and then runs their Google and Meta campaigns. This page covers what each platform requires, which countries are open, and what counts as addiction treatment in the first place. This page is marketing guidance, not medical or legal advice. Platform policies change, so check the sources listed at the end before acting on a specific rule.

Google: what the policy covers

Google restricts the promotion of recovery-oriented drug and alcohol addiction services. Its examples are clinical addiction treatment providers, recovery support services such as sober living environments and mutual help organizations, lead generators or referral agencies for addiction services, and crisis hotlines for drug and alcohol addiction. Services unrelated to drug and alcohol addiction, such as impulse control disorders, behavioral addiction or nicotine addiction, are out of scope.

Approved advertisers can run these ads in six locations: Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, New Zealand and the United States. In the United States and Canada, the advertiser must hold LegitScript's addiction treatment certification and also be certified by Google. In Australia, France, Ireland and New Zealand, Google allows the promotion of these services by government entities only. Google adds that addiction services which are not eligible for LegitScript certification are not allowed to advertise drug and alcohol addiction services on Google. Violations of this policy carry a warning at least 7 days before any account suspension.

Applying to Google

Google's application instructions are short. Identify the certification type that matches the business, which here is addiction services. Apply at the individual Google Ads account level, not the manager account, and include the customer ID and the certified domain. An agency applying for a client must send documentation of the relationship. Advertisers targeting more than one location submit a separate application for each location or group of locations.

Meta: written permission for US ads

Meta requires advertisers who want to run addiction treatment ads targeting people in the United States to be certified with LegitScript and to apply to Meta for permission. With both in place, Meta allows ads for in-person addiction treatment, addiction hotlines, mutual support groups and online addiction treatment, including smartphone apps for recovery. Ads for physical rehabilitation run without permission. The application sits in the Verification and Authorizations tab of Meta Business Suite settings.

Who LegitScript certifies, and who it doesn't

LegitScript's eligibility notes say it certifies licensed addiction treatment in the US or Canada, in person or remote, including detox, residential and outpatient care, counseling and medication-assisted treatment. Addiction treatment provided as part of a co-occurring program qualifies. Lead generators, call centers and marketers that refer patients to other providers for compensation are explicitly disallowed, and sober living homes without licensed clinical services do not meet the requirements.

Two of its sixteen standards bear directly on ads. Applicants must advertise transparently, under their own name, and only for services and locations they actually provide. And applicants seen advertising on Google, Bing or Facebook without certification may be treated as trying to get around the program, which can be grounds for denial. LegitScript's published fees, read on October 5, 2026, are charged per facility: $1,395 to $1,595 to apply and $2,550 to $3,095 a year once certified, depending on facility count.

Medication-assisted treatment and drug terms

Google bans ads for prescription opioid painkillers, but says the ban doesn't include medication-assisted treatment drugs for opioid use disorder that meet its other prescription drug requirements, and it lists certified addiction treatment providers in the United States as an exception. Drug names follow the restricted drug terms rule: in the US they can appear in ads and landing pages without certification, but keyword-targeting them needs certification. Buprenorphine is a Schedule III controlled substance (21 CFR 1308.13), and prescribing it by telemedicine without an in-person visit relies on DEA flexibilities that the fourth extension keeps in effect through December 31, 2026.

Audiences and data

Google's health category for personalized ads names counseling for addiction, including alcohol and gambling addiction, so these campaigns can't use customer match, remarketing lists or lookalike segments. LegitScript's privacy standard adds that US applicants who collect, store or transmit protected health information must comply with HIPAA. MedScale tracks server-side under a BAA with neutral event names, and no names, emails, phone numbers, IP addresses or browser IDs go to any ad platform.

What MedScale does

MedScale Health's LegitScript certification help prepares the application, the website disclosures and the facility documentation, then files Google's addiction services certification and Meta's permission request once LegitScript approves. Mental health lines that don't promote drug and alcohol treatment run on Google and Meta in the meantime, in separate campaigns with their own pages. Approval is never guaranteed. Start with the free growth audit at medscale.health/audit for a written read of your ads, pages and eligibility.