The Board denied service connection for tobacco use disorder as there is no legal basis to award it, given the Veteran's lack of a service-connected disability and his claim not being secondary to any other condition.
The deciding factor: Service connection cannot be granted for tobacco use disorder due to VA regulations prohibiting such claims after June 9, 1998, and because there is no evidence that the current tobacco use disorder resulted from disease or injury attributable to service.
- Claimed conditions
- tobacco use disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 27, 2022
- Citation
- A22026203
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation A22026203.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including other specified trauma and stressor related disorder, persistent depressive disorder, alcohol use disorder, and tobacco use disorder. Service connection for persistent depressive disorder is also granted.
- Granted
The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disabilities, including bipolar disorder, PTSD, MDD with psychotic features, depression, anxiety, alcohol use disorder, tobacco use disorder, and psychosis are found to have begun during service or be related to in-service events. The claims for sleep disturbances and bilateral eye disabilities are remanded.
- Denied
The Veteran's claims for service connection for psychiatric disabilities, tobacco use disorder, erectile dysfunction, hypertension, left hand disability, right hand disability, and bilateral hearing loss have all been denied.,Service connection cannot be established as the evidence does not support a current diagnosis of any of these conditions.
- Granted
The Veteran's acquired psychological condition, including anxiety, adjustment disorder, tobacco use disorder, and alcohol use disorder, is at least as likely as not related to his military service. Service connection for an acquired psychological condition is granted.
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