Background Question

[bmartin1488]

I am a new member to this forum, and this is my first post. I just have background questions to ask about the hiring process.

I am in college and in the honors school for criminal justice. I really want to be a police officer and I honestly know I would be a great one. I specifically want to work for Houston PD or the Texas State Police. My question is when I was in high school I used marijuana, I never used anything else, but I smoked weed and I also sold a bit, nothing huge but enough to get it for free from myself. I wish I could take it back but whats done is done and I gotta keep on going from there. Am I wasting my time getting a degree in CJ just to not be able to do what I want to do in life? If so are what are the other career options in criminal justice?

Thanks y'all so much in advance and god bless

[Kimble]

I am a new member to this forum, and this is my first post. I just have background questions to ask about the hiring process.

I am in college and in the honors school for criminal justice. I really want to be a police officer and I honestly know I would be a great one. I specifically want to work for Houston PD or the Texas State Police. My question is when I was in high school I used marijuana, I never used anything else, but I smoked weed and I also sold a bit, nothing huge but enough to get it for free from myself. I wish I could take it back but whats done is done and I gotta keep on going from there. Am I wasting my time getting a degree in CJ just to not be able to do what I want to do in life? If so are what are the other career options in criminal justice?

Thanks y'all so much in advance and god bless

Different agencies have different limits on how much past usage of marijuana they'll accept, however, I'd venture to guess that if you sold it so it would be free for you, you used it more than just a handful of times that would qualify as "experimentation." Also, selling illegal drugs is viewed much more seriously than using. This is going to be a tremendous hurdle to overcome, and selling drugs is an automatic disqualification with every LE agency I'm aware of (though I've never worked for Houston PD or TX DPS, so I can't speak to specifics about their hiring policy).

As far as whether you're wasting your time on a CJ degree, have you considered what you would do with that degree if you're unable to get a job as a cop or work in the CJ field? As far as I know, CJ degrees aren't in high demand in the business sector (not saying you can't find a job with any degree, but if you can't be a cop it might be best to focus your studies on a back up field you'd enjoy doing as a career, as a CJ degree is not required to become a cop).

[mcsap]

What it boils down to is that you were a drug user and dealer. That is not good to have in your background because you will have many people applying with you that never did either.

Does it absolutely mean you won't get hired ? Hard to say , but if it isn't a 100% DQ , it will at least make it hard.

[terminal.logic]

I also sold a bit, nothing huge

Selling drugs is something huge. Especially when your in high school and I'm going to venture a guess that you sold to other high school students.