How to Recognize the Signs of Intoxication

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How can you tell if someone is tipsy, drunk, intoxicated, or over-served? Can you judge by the fact that the eyes are red, the cheeks are rosy, or if their speech is slurred? There are many signs and symptoms of intoxication that can be easy enough to recognize with a little practice and research.

Part1

Recognizing the Physical Signs of Intoxication

1. 
   1
   Look for glassy or bloodshot eyes. A person’s eyes can tell you a lot about him and his mental state in a particular moment. If his eyes are glassy and bloodshot, it could be a sign that he's been drinking too much.^[1] Additionally, if a person has droopy eyes and he is clearly having trouble keeping his eyes open, this could also be a sign of intoxication.

   • Note: Bloodshot eyes could also be a sign of allergies or another medical condition. So make sure you ask him about allergies before you interpret this symptom as a definitive sign of intoxication.
2. 
   2
   Notice how the person smells. While intoxication can mean being under the influence of several different substances, the smell of the user can be a big giveaway for many people. Both alcohol and marijuana have very strong odors that linger with the user long after the intoxicating substance has been consumed. Try to smell the person and see if you can notice hints of alcohol or weed on her breath or their clothes.

   • As a parent looking for signs of intoxication in their child, this is one of the most effective tell-tale signs.
3. 
   3
   Watch for impaired motor function. Intoxicated people can’t perform normal tasks as easily as they can when they are sober. This includes things like walking a straight line, lighting a cigarette properly, spilling drinks, or fumbling with other objects.^[2]

   • Keep in mind that impaired motor function can be a side effect of many other conditions, such as Parkinson's disease or someone who has suffered a stroke.
4. 
   4
   Estimate the person’s size. Although alcohol affects everyone similarly, the speed at which it does so will be different based upon these physical characteristics.^[3] Size, gender, the rate of consumption, the strength of each drink, the amount of food and the additional use of drugs all are to be considered when determining how quickly alcohol may be affecting someone.

   • For example, a man who weighs 150 lbs. will feel the effects of the alcohol much more quickly than a man who weighs 250 lbs., even if they drink the exact same amount of alcohol. This is because the larger man can tolerate more alcohol since his body takes longer to process it.

Part2

Recognizing the Behavioral Signs of Intoxication

1. 
   1
   Watch for a person’s inhibitions to become lowered. If someone is becoming more talkative and beginning to lose some control of knowing how far he can go in a social setting, he is showing the first signs of intoxication. Louder behavior than usual — and even mood swings — are also possible warning signs.^[4]

   • For example, loud outbursts or inappropriate comments could be signs of intoxication.
   • An intoxicated person may spend his money more freely than he usually would. With lowered inhibitions, people are more likely to focus on the good feeling that they get from drinking, rather than thinking about how they need to be responsible with their money. He might also buy drinks for strangers or acquaintances.
   • Additionally, many people like to smoke cigarettes while they are drinking. Smokers usually smoke more when they are drinking, but many nonsmokers will light up the occasional cigarette when they’ve been drinking.^[5] This is another sign of intoxication.
2. 
   2
   Listen to the volume of the person's voice. There are many signs of intoxication that you can spot just by paying attention to how someone speaks. If a person is speaking too loudly or too softly, then she is showing signs of intoxication.^[6][7]
3. 
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   Notice if the person slurs his speech. Slurred speech is almost always a sure sign of intoxication. If you notice a person (your child, your customer, or anyone really) is slurring their words together, especially to the point where it is difficult to interpret exactly what they he is saying, it is may be a sign of intoxication.

   • Again, slurred speech can be a side effect of another condition or even a sign that someone is having a stroke. Don't automatically assume a person is drunk because he is slurring his words.
4. 
   4
   Pay attention to what the person says. If a person is being combative with her words, speaking more slowly than usual, or repeating herself a lot, these could be signs of intoxication. Watch for these verbal cues to determine if someone has been drinking too much.^[8][9]
5. 
   5
   Observe how the person interacts with others. As he becomes increasingly intoxicated, a person will progress through the stages of poor judgment. This is inappropriate behavior that he normally would not engage in. Foul language, off-color jokes, and overly flirtatious behavior are signs of poor judgment, especially if these things are out of character for this person. Also, if his rate of consumption begins to increase or he participates in drinking games, these could also be signs of poor judgment.^[10]

   • For example, inappropriate sexual advances, mean comments, and unusually dirty jokes can all be signs of intoxication.
6. 
   6
   Interpret the person's mood. People who are intoxicated often have wide mood swings —being happy and laughing one second, then crying and belligerent a few minutes later.^[11] If her mood seems more exaggerated than normal (on either end of the spectrum), she might be intoxicated.

   • For example, if someone is drinking and she seems to be in a good mood, but suddenly starts crying, this could be a sign of intoxication.
7. 
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   Look for clues in other modes of communication. Sometimes it’s important to be able to determine if someone is intoxicated even if you are not in the same room with him.

   • Phone calls. An intoxicated person might call an old lover or call someone repeatedly (also known as ‘‘drunk dialing’’). His inhibitions are lowered, so calling over and over might not seem disruptive or rude to him and he may feel less accountable for his actions.^[12]
   • Text messages. Signs of intoxication to look for in text messages include drastic misspellings, overly emotional pronouncements, or receiving a text (or a series of texts) at an unusually late hour.^[13]
8. 
   8
   Consider alcohol tolerance. Remember that it's possible for people to develop a tolerance for alcohol, but that doesn't mean that they are not legally intoxicated. It just means that visual recognition is more difficult. For some people with exceptional tolerance, drink counting may be the only way to assess intoxication but this is not without problems.^[14]

   • If you are a bartender trying to determine whether you should keep serving someone alcohol or not, try to count the number of drinks the person has had. You can even ask one of her friends how much she has had to drink or how drunk the friend thinks the person is.

Part3

Helping Someone Who is Intoxicated

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   Try to get the person to stop drinking. Once people drinking alcohol begin to show signs of physical impairment, first get him to stop drinking any more alcohol.^[15] Some beginning signs of physical impairment are slurred speech, slow or clumsy movements, swaying, dropping objects (e.g., goods, money, keys) or forgetting thoughts in mid-sentence.

   • To get someone to stop drinking, try talking to him calmly as his friend. Tell him that you think he may have had too much to drink and that you are worried, so it would make you feel better if he would quit drinking for the night. Appeal to his sense of friendship if you have to — that he is doing you a favor by not drinking anymore.
   • If he refuses to quit drinking, consider taking more drastic measures. If you are in a bar, tell the bartender that you think the intoxicated person has been drinking too much and ask the bartender to quit serving him alcohol. If you are in a private space like a house, try to hide all the remaining alcohol. The drunk person will not be as observant as usual because of his dulled senses, so it should be relatively easy for you to hide the alcohol without him noticing.
2. 
   2
   Keep her company. If a person shows a loss of motor control or function, or poor coordination, she must not be left alone as she could become a danger to themselves or others. Stumbling or swaying, having difficulty with depth perception, and dropping things repeatedly or having difficulty picking them up are signs that the person has progressed to this level.
3. 
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   Get the person home. If you notice someone is very intoxicated and he is in a public place like a bar or restaurant, try to help him get home so he can go to bed and sleep it off. You can offer him a ride yourself, call a cab for him, offer to call a friend for him, or call a drunk ride service if one is available in your area.^[16]
4. 
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   Prevent the person from driving. Drinking and driving is extremely dangerous — to the drunk driver herself and to everyone who crosses paths with her. Sometimes people make poor decisions when they have had too much to drink, or aren’t able to correctly gauge their own level of drunkenness, so they choose to drive when they shouldn’t. To prevent someone from driving drunk you can try helping her get home another way, by notifying the bartender or the police, or even by stealing her car keys.
5. 
   5
   Make sure the person is safe. People can be a danger to themselves when they are intoxicated. This is especially true if the intoxicated person is well past the point of minor drunkenness. There are many dangers to be considered — for example, people have been known to die from choking on their own vomit while they were intoxicated. So if you help someone who is drunk get home, try to make sure he is sleeping on his side so he won’t be able to choke if he ends up vomiting.

   • If you see a person who is heavily intoxicated but this seems to be out of character for him, or he has only had one drink, it is possible that he has been roofied. This means that someone has slipped a drug in their drink (usually the sedative Rohypnol) that will cause him to lose some muscle control and, in effect, be unable to resist if he is assaulted.^[17]
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   Seek medical attention if you think the person has alcohol poisoning. Alcohol poisoning is a very serious condition that results from drinking more alcohol than your body can handle. In a worst case scenario, this can result in death.^[18] If you think someone you know has alcohol poisoning, seek emergency medical attention immediately. These are some symptoms of alcohol poisoning:

   • Vomiting
   • Seizures
   • Confusion
   • Slowed breathing
   • Passing out
   • Pale skin
7. 7
   Keep other causes in mind. There are a number of different medical conditions which may cause a person to appear drunk. For instance, someone suffering a stroke may have a drooping face, slurred speech, confusion, dizziness, difficulty walking, and so on.^[19]

   • If the person displays symptoms of being drunk but has not been drinking, these signs appear out of nowhere, or you are simply unsure, you can perform a few simple tests to see if the person is having a stroke. Ask her to smile, to raise both arms over her head, and to speak a simple sentence.^[20] If part of the person's face droops or her smile is asymmetrical, if one arm seems to drift downward, and/or if she cannot repeat the sentence or seems to be searching for words, she may be having a stroke and needs emergency medical assistance.
   • A person with diabetes may display what could be interpreted as "drunk behavior" when she is in fact experiencing ketoacidosis, which occurs when the body doesn't have enough insulin and there is a build up of acids called ketones in the bloodstream. If you also notice the person has fruity-smelling breath and she has not been drinking fruit-flavored drinks, she may be experiencing ketoacidosis and needs immediate medical help.^[21]
   • Disorders like Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and ataxia all affect movement and may cause a person to appear drunk or have difficulty maintaining his balance. Don't assume that someone who has difficulty keeping her balance is intoxicated.

Community Q&A

• What do I do if I serve one beer to a guest, and then 15 minutes later he/she looks intoxicated?

  wikiHow Contributor

  Tell that person they cannot have anymore to drink. Give him/her some water, and if he/she needs to go home, get a cab or a person to help take him/her home.

  Not Helpful 0 Helpful 6
• Does it mean someone is less intoxicated if he is succeeding at some of the tasks?

  wikiHow Contributor

  It's likely, but if he's only doing some of the tasks while still failing at others, he's still intoxicated. So take the appropriate safety measures and use your best judgment.

  Not Helpful 0 Helpful 1
• What is the most reliable sign of intoxication?

  wikiHow Contributor

  Slurred speech and poor balance are usually the two most reliable signs of intoxication.

  Not Helpful 2 Helpful 2
• How can I tell when I am drunk without the use of friends?

  wikiHow Contributor

  Try to keep track of your drinks and if you start feeling dizzy, lose your balance, or can't think straight, you're probably drunk and you should stop.

  Not Helpful 0 Helpful 0

Unanswered Questions

• Does the person usually have a redness to their face?

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Tips

• Consider obtaining a blood alcohol content (BAC) reader. You can find inexpensive, keychain-sized readers that can remove the guesswork when you are trying to determine if someone is intoxicated.
• When determining a person’s level of intoxication, the type of alcohol does not make a difference if it has been served in a measured dose. Alcohol is classified as a drug. The amount of alcohol in 12 oz. of a typical domestic beer, 5 oz. of wine, or a 1 oz. shot of 100-proof spirits or 1.5 ounces of 80 proof liquor is the same. What is typically different with these drinks is the rate at which a person consumes them.

Warnings

• At a BAC of less than 150 mg/dl, signs of visible intoxication are not reliably present in most drinkers, and the likelihood of identifying signs of impairment is less likely.
• In most people, reliable signs of intoxication are present by casual observation at a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 150 mg/dl or more, even in most tolerant individuals.
• In some states obvious intoxication means that if someone has consumed a large number of drinks, it should be obvious that they are intoxicated and not capable of driving. Other state laws define visible intoxication as specific types of behavior such as trouble walking, slurred speech, and other common signs of alcohol intoxication.
• John Brick, executive director of In toxin International, said that one of the deadliest consequence of alcohol over-consumption is impaired driving and it is still difficult for trained observers to fully identify "intoxication," given that so many factors contribute to it. "It is important to understand and recognize intoxication because of the risk for injury that results from it," he said.^[22]