Psychoactive Substance Use, Abuse and Dependence

When the provider documentation refers to use, abuse and dependence of the same substance (e.g. alcohol, opioid, cannabis, etc.), only one code should be assigned to identify the pattern of use based on the following hierarchy: • If both use and abuse are documented, assign only the code for abuse • If both abuse and dependence are documented, assign only the code for dependence • If use, abuse and dependence are all documented, assign only the code for dependence • If both use and dependence are documented, assign only the code for dependence.