Thinking about getting a criminal justice degree, but dont want to waste my time

[mariners02]

Hi i am 19 years old and am interested in becoming a police officer and eventually, possibly a detective after i graduate college (in about 4 years), if i choose a law enforcement career path i would get a bachelors degree in criminal justice from a university and then apply to be an officer. I have a couple of things from my high school years and was wondering if they would be automatic DQ's and if not how bad they would hurt me in the hiring process.
I used marijuana around 20 times during my highschool career, i realize this is a lot, i was never addicted, never used it at school, or during work, it was a occasional weekend thing, thinking back on it i really only used it cause i grew up in a small town where it was extremely prominent, lots of people in my highschool and many of my friends used marijuana regularly. In the last six months, since i graduated, i have not used marijuana at all and will never use it again.
I drove drunk twice in highschool and will never drive drunk again either.
Out of pure curiosity I tried hallucinogenic mushrooms once when i was 17, i only took 3 tiny ones, which were not nearly enough to feel any effect. (this is the one i am most worried about as a DQ since i realize that in most departments any prior use of hallucinogenic mushrooms is unacceptable.)
I have also downloaded music
I have never been arrested, pulled over or had any sort of run in with the law whatsoever and my credit record is totally clean. Do you think these things would be enough to DQ me? Or do you think that the being drug free for the next 4 years at college will be enough for these things to be seen as mistakes made in highschool. I don't want to get a criminal justice degree, which is not the most versatile degree, and be stuck with a worthless degree because of DQ's from mistakes during highschool.

[retdetsgt]

Out of pure curiosity I tried hallucinogenic mushrooms once when i was 17, i only took 3 tiny ones, which were not nearly enough to feel any effect. (this is the one i am most worried about as a DQ since i realize that in most departments any prior use of hallucinogenic mushrooms is unacceptable.)

Yup, automatic DQ everywhere I know of. If you wanted to be a cop, you shoulda been a little smarter back then.

[mariners02]

It will be a DQ even though it will have been 5 years without any drug use, and 7 since the incident with mushrooms before i even apply to any police departments? I am also not even sure that what i took was real, since i have no idea what real ones look like, or where the ones i got came from, and they had no effect on anyone else who used them, which could also be due to the small amount consumed.

[1depd]

Even without the mushroom use, I would expect to have to wait more than the five or seven years you'll be in college. With most things the longer you wait the better. Since there is no way really to tell what a police department will do in four, five, ten years from now your best bet is to hedge your education to your benefit. If you are interested in LE there are many opportunities for work in private industry that the CJ degree will not get you with out either more education or job experience.

My advise: Instead of going for a single major of CJ, You can either double major or have a major/minor. Either way complete the CJ requirements while completing something in finance, business, or IT. All three disciplines are not normally seen with a CJ education, it will set you apart. Also all three disciplines will serve you well in LE, if you are able to go that route. They also open you up to many corporate security type jobs (not a security guard either) paying high five and low six figures.