How Drug and Alcohol Issues Affect Eligibility
Social Security can deny you disability benefits when your impairments would go away if you stopped drinking or using drugs,
You can't get disability for substance use disorder alone, but Social Security can't penalize you by denying you disability benefits for abusing drugs or alcohol.
Can disability applicants with mental disorders who abuse medication, drugs, or alcohol still get disability benefits? It depends.
Nolo's disability book, written by a psychiatrist and former chief medical consultant for Social Security, explains how Social Security makes drug and alcohol determinations.
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