“How to help a friend addicted to opiods?”

Seek professional help, rehab, therapy, etc.

Do not enable them - addiction can only be helped when the person has reached the end of the rope and realizes they need help. Otherwise, the best thing you can do is just be there to listen but do not lend money, allow this person to stay at your house or promote the behavior by feeling sorry for them. If they verbalize any suicidal thoughts call 911 or take them to the nearest ER.

Thank you for your question at FADT. Opioid addiction is a serious illness and typically needs very comprehensive treatment. The best outcomes come from cases who received comprehensive treatment, i.e. including going to therapy, receiving medications for underlying co-occuring mental health condition (e.g. depression), attending drug and alcohol specific intensive classes almost daily, and at the same time having good social support from family, friends, employer. So, the lesson from that is it is advisable that you help your friend together with a team of other people (friends, family, professionals). I hope this helps, thank you! Dr. Dodd, MD.

I would identify some or a specific place help could be obtained and I would avoid reinforcing anything about the use of opoids. It might be worth sharing your concern with other appropriate helpers-also consideration of letting them know you cannot be around them or associate with them unless they get help depending on the relationship. Remember the only thing you actually have control over is your own behavior. Best Wishes!!

Let you know that you care about them and look into medical treatment options that they may have. This is not easy as much of it is confusing and difficult to access. Also, get some naloxone.
Here's a inexpensive and good book about the medical treatment of opioid addiction: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35785382-overcoming-opioid-addiction

Feeling like you need to get someone else to stop an addiction to which they're firmly committed is called codependency. In these situations, most often your certainty they need to stop and insisting that he do so only feeds the addiction. Yes, opioid addiction is frequently fatal. But must likely, your friend loves opioids more than anything in the world. Your best solution is to get counseling for yourself, or go to Al Anon meetings. As with any 12-step group, you'll have to try out several Al Anon groups to find one or two where you feel comfortable.