PIP assessment and drug use

Hi all.

I have a friend who is suffering with clinical depression, is out of work and receives ESA. He has recently made a PIP claim and have a telephone assessment soon.

My friend has also been using - and sometimes arguably misusing - alcohol and drugs, both prescription and 'recreational', at times in an effort to try and 'self-medicate' to excape the distress caused by their condition. Consequently, he has recently been referred to his local substance misuse team, albeit their involvement has occurred subsequent to the PIP claim being submitted.

He is worried about this aspect of his needs coming up in the PIP assessment, and very unsure about how to approach the subject. Principally, he is concerned that, if his off-prescription drug use comes to light in the assessment, he may be denied PIP due to being perceived to be at risk of using the extra PIP income to fund further drug use, or simply because of a view on the part of the assessors that drug users are feckless and don't do enough to help themselves.

Can anyone give any ideas as to how he should approach this subject in his PIP assessment? Any advice would be much appreciated.