If your impairment relates to or is made worse by drug or alcohol abuse, you're probably going to be denied Social Security Disability benefits. Now I'm here to tell you that I would have a pile of nickels if I had a nickel for every time I heard something like "I can't believe that my loved one was denied benefits when so-and-so was approved and their only problem is that they're just a darn drunk." They may be a drunk, but alcohol and drug abuse is not an impairment recognized by Social Security so it's VERY likely this person meets the standard for some recognized impairment.
If you read my last post, Honesty, you might be thinking that the fella who was using Pabst Blue Ribbon to treat his pain, was denied benefits because of his alcohol use, but that was NOT the case. That man was denied benefits because the judge found that the man's complaints of pain were not credible given his non-compliance with the medical treatment as prescribed by this doctor. In lay terms, the judge found that because this fella's pain wasn't bad enough to take pain medication, his condition wasn't bad enough to meet the standard for the impairment. This is a helpful example of how judges tend to look at things.
Now back to the topic of this post, that is drug or alcohol abuse and Social Security Disability. It bears repeating that if your impairment relates to or is made worse by drug or alcohol abuse, you're probably going to be denied Social Security Disability benefits. My experience is that drug and alcohol use is a big problem for claimants with mental impairments. These folks frequently attempt to self medicate with drugs and alcohol and their medical records are often full of references to drug and alcohol use. The question is whether or not the drug or alcohol use is material to the impairment.
For example, if a person is a non-functional schizophrenic, that person is most likely going to be non-functional whether or not they use drugs and alcohol. However, because this person's medical records are probably loaded with references with drugs and alcohol, there's a good chance they will be denied benefits. What I do in this situation is I ask my client's psychiatrist to write a letter stating his or her opinion as to whether alcohol and drug use is material to this person's impairment and I provide that letter to the judge. In my experience, if my client's psychiatrist is able to write a letter stating that drug or alcohol use is not material to the impairment, this is enough to satisfy the judge on the issue.
Thanks for reading,
Eric
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Eric L. Johnson
Attorney at Law
914 Hay Street, Fayetteville, NC 28305
Tel: (910) 691-8600
Fax: (910) 222-3059
Email: elj@eljlaw.com
Web: http://www.eljlaw.com
