Reviewed July 31, 2026

Sources, Evidence, and Limits.

ViceBudget is a harm-reduction ledger, not medical advice. This page explains how claims are sourced, where evidence is strong, and where the site intentionally uses more cautious language.

Evidence Posture

The site uses three plain-language confidence buckets so readers can see the difference between settled public-health guidance, useful but variable evidence, and editorial framing.

High confidence: Used for claims strongly supported by public-health or clinical sources, such as nicotine withdrawal symptoms, alcohol withdrawal risk, and general adult caffeine reference limits.
Mixed or developing: Used where research is meaningful but depends heavily on dose, age, frequency, route, individual vulnerability, or study design. Cannabis mental-health relationships and social media outcomes often live here.
Ledger framing: Used for financial, time, and opportunity-cost calculations. These are estimates designed to support self-reflection, not diagnosis or prediction.

Core Sources

Alcohol

NIAAA alcohol treatment and withdrawal guidance

Supports the site’s warnings that withdrawal after prolonged heavy drinking can be painful and potentially life-threatening, including seizure risk, and that medical help can make recovery safer.

NIAAA: Treatment for Alcohol Problems
Alcohol

NIAAA AUD clinical overview

Supports alcohol use disorder, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, and treatment-setting language used in the alcohol page’s safety notes.

NIAAA: AUD from Risk to Recovery
Caffeine

FDA caffeine consumer update

Supports the 400 mg/day adult reference point, plus the site’s emphasis that sensitivity varies and pregnancy, medications, and health conditions can change the safer limit.

FDA: Spilling the Beans
Cannabis

CDC cannabis health effects

Supports cannabis use disorder, impairment, brain health, mental-health uncertainty, driving risk, lung/heart considerations, and poisoning cautions.

CDC: Cannabis Health Effects
Nicotine

CDC vaping and nicotine effects

Supports nicotine addiction and withdrawal language, while keeping route-specific vaping claims cautious because long-term evidence is still developing.

CDC: Health Effects of Vaping
Screen time

U.S. Surgeon General social media advisory

Supports the screen-time page’s posture: social media has benefits and risks, youth evidence is especially concerning, and important research gaps remain.

HHS: Social Media and Youth Mental Health
Treatment referral

SAMHSA National Helpline

Supports treatment-referral language for mental health and substance use disorders. It is not framed on ViceBudget as the only crisis option.

SAMHSA: National Helpline
Crisis support

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

Used for immediate emotional distress or suicidal crisis language in the United States.

988 Lifeline

Help Language

ViceBudget separates treatment-referral resources from immediate crisis support. That distinction matters.

Immediate emotional distress or suicidal crisis: call or text 988.

Mental health or substance-use treatment referral: SAMHSA National Helpline 1-800-662-4357.

Limits

ViceBudget cannot know your medical history, medications, pregnancy status, age, tolerance, withdrawal history, mental-health profile, legal context, or substance purity. Those details can change the risk picture completely.

If a page describes potentially dangerous withdrawal, overdose risk, contamination risk, suicidal crisis, psychosis, severe depression, chest pain, seizure, or loss of control, treat that as professional-support territory rather than a ledger exercise.