Possible Drug Possession and Paraphernalia

Nurses Criminal

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Hello all,I am looking for a little advice. I am currently licensed in Ohio as an LPN and have a job at a LTC facility. The other night I went through a sobriety checkpoint, officer had said he smelled alcohol, which is absurd, I wasn't drinking. Passed sobriety test, searched my car without my permsion, I assume based on the "smell of alcohol". I guess my buddies had a little marijuana on them which I had not known about and they found it. Officer charged everyone with a minor misdemeanor for possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia. Said paraphernalia being my cigarette roller which had nothing to do with the pot. It was from back when I was in college we bought big bags of tobacco and rolled our own cigarettes, being much cheaper. I know I'm going to plead not guilty on my hearing Monday. My question is what kind of impact will this have on my license? I have no attorney yet, as I am still searching. This is stressing me out to the max. Does anyone have any input. I feel as if I'm going to get screwed. My record is 100% clean with no charges whatsoever.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Moving to nursing licensure with a criminal history forum.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if the average judge had a nickel for every accused person who uses "The drugs/booze/paraphernalia/stolen goods/fill in the blank weren't mine" as a defense, he'd be independently wealthy.

We cannot offer legal advice to you, but as a nurse with a less than stellar 'past', I strongly suggest that you NOT go into court---let alone your state BON---with the story that marijuana in your "friend's" possession somehow met up with your old cigarette roller from college without your knowing about it.

Instead, you'll want to say as little as possible at your arraignment, and then find yourself the best BS artist money can buy to represent you. You'll need one if you're going to ask for a trial, and when you go before the board of nursing. I don't know what the law is in your state, but where I live a nurse must report any misdemeanor or felony arrest, charge, or conviction within 2 weeks of the occurrence.

I wish you luck and hope you learn a valuable lesson from this incident, as it is SO not worth losing your license.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

I second that. "It's not mine" and "I don't know how it got there" are words that are frequently only believed by the person uttering them.

This is not to say I am accusing you of lying--I wasn't at the scene so I can not pass judgment on what you did or didn't do--but like Viva said, almost no judge will believe you if you try the ignorance defense. And the BON definitely won't as they automatically assume the worst in these cases.

All I can suggest is hiring a top-notch lawyer and letting them develop your defense. Any legal guidance should also come from this lawyer, since we're not legal experts here. Best of luck with this.

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Specializes in Med-Swing/Rehab.

Your best bet is to have your "friend" claim the drugs and state that they are not yours.

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Sorry that I didn't clarify. Said friends are claiming the pot as theirs in the pretrial. Which hopefully will let the judge drop the possession off of me. I am still left with the paraphernalia charge though. Said paraphernalia being a cigarette roller that was legitimately used for rolling cigarettes. I've never been in this situation nor do I ever want to be again, I just don't know what to expect.

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