Drink, drugs and disability: an introduction to the controversy.(Social Security Administration's drug addiction and alcoholism program)

It is highly unlikely that when Congress passed the SSI program in 1972 ... members realized they would be writing a guaranteed annual income and medical care [program] for addicts.

Rep. Rick Santorum, February 10, 1994

I think probably most of the American people would be outraged to find ... that someone is even receiving disability when they inflict it on themselves.

Rep. E. Clay Shaw, Jr., February 10, 1994 (1)

Since 1950 the federal government of the United States has provided income support to people with work disabilities unrelated to military service. The eligibility of alcoholics and drug addicts for these benefits has always been controversial, but for over 25 years drug addiction and alcoholism were treated as potentially disabling impairments--albeit with official reluctance and confusion. In this paper we examine the history of the drug addiction and alcoholism (DA&A) "program" (2) operated by the Social Security Administration. This began with the authorization of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in 1972, was extended to Social Security Disability Insurance in 1994, and was eliminated by Congress in March 1996.