If you really are addicted (which, from your posts, it seems like you may be) then you should look to therapy for help. There are a lot of things you can do on your own without seeing someone if you really don't want to. I've been able to make big strides with arachnophobia and an anxiety disorder just by reading the literature online and practicing techniques at home. You need to be honest with yourself about these things, though. You're the only person who can change your own mind and solve your own problems. There are a lot of support groups for these things, too, which can be helpful.
The way I see it (this is my approach to practice) we're all addicted to many things and we need to face these things if we really want to be free from our clinging minds. Deal with this sooner rather than later with whatever means work for you, and use meditation as a way to clean up the residue. Also, if you're drinking a lot, don't try to quit cold turkey! That can be very dangerous to your body chemistry. Seek help if you're at this level or you could hurt yourself with a seizure and withdrawals.
If you're addicted on a more mental or social level, this is exactly the sort of thing you're trying to investigate with meditation - don't run away from it! Concentration states can be a nice "high", but, personally, the best feelings I've gotten from meditation came from realizing that, even though the problems were still there, I had found peace within them. This peace is the magic you're looking for to help cure your addictions. When you realize you don't need to change anything about your situation - even the feeling of "I need a drink" - and you can simply be content with the way things are in your mind, you loosen the grip of those desires that were driving you. Over time those desires just wear themselves out and you're left with the unshakable feeling that you can't be broken by anything. The magic you're looking for lies within the feeling of "needing" itself, not a replacement for the buzz you get with the alcohol. A buzz, or a high, implies a low that is being replaced or run away from. Meditation helps you step out of this high and low cycle into the release of equanimity - a feeling of pure contentment without burdens, since it doesn’t rely on any mind state or outside influence to maintain it.
Check out these articles, they might help you understand why addiction works the way it does:
http://mindhacks.com/2012/12/21/wanting-vs-liking/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incentive_salienceEssentially, "wanting" and "liking" are two separate parts of the brain. Addiction happens when your tolerance levels for a drug rises - reducing the "liking" - and the "wanting" is further stimulated by continued usage. The only way to break this spiral is to remove the source. It will probably be unpleasant, but in the end it'll be worth it since you will be free from the malfunctioning "wanting" circuit. I think this works on many levels with almost everything we do, and lies at the core of "self improvement" practices as well.
Good luck with everything. I hope this was helpful in some way.