- History of heavy alcohol use. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA)30 defines heavy alcohol use as binge drinking on 5 or more days in the past month. SAMSHA defines binge drinking as 5 or more alcoholic drinks for males or 4 or more alcoholic drinks for females on the same occasion (i.e., at the same time or within a couple of hours of each other) on at least 1 day in the past month.