Application & Marijuana Usage

[leatherneck2065]

Hello everyone,

Great website. I am looking for a bit of advice regarding my situation. I am in my late 30's, college degree, honorable military discharge, clean background/excellent credit, and have served in the corporate world for quite some time. I'm looking for a career change, and I have always been very interested in getting involved with law enforcement and becoming a police officer.

That said, my question is in regard to marijuana experimentation. I experimented twice in my lifetime, once was over 15 years ago, and another was over 11 years ago. Never have since, and not sure why I did at the time. Anyhow, is this something that could get me DQ'd from a department application? Not sure if it matters, but at the time, I had no intentions of becoming a police officer. However, the first time of experimentation, I was in the military reserve. Not on one of my 'on duty' weekends of course, but had a one time outing with an old high school buddy, and he ended up being a regular user, and I made a bad choice that night.

Is this a conversation that I should have with a recruiter, or does it sound like I'm at a disadvantage from the start?

Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[DeltaV]

Two time experimentation with marijuana, the most recent being 11 years ago, isn't going to pose a problem for you as long as you're honest about it.

[BP348]

two time experimentation with marijuana, the most recent being 11 years ago, isn't going to pose a problem for you as long as you're honest about it.

+1..

[PJMurphy]

Here is the question we ask applicants: "How may times have you smoked marijuana in the last five years?" When we were real hard-up for applicants in the late 90's it was "How many times in the last month?" I've had applicants admit to smoking just before the integrity interview (they were dropped for "Lack of General Cognitive Ability").