Drug charges on record

[McBecca]

I am currently a student at SJRCC in the state of Florida. I have almost completed my pre-requisites for the nursing program and will be applying in the spring for both SJRCC and FSCJ's summer term. I am extremely nervous due to the fact that i have made some very stupid choices in my past. I am currently 23 and have been charged with a misdemeanor of marijuana/paraphernalia 3 times in my past. The first time was in march of 2007, the second in january of 2009, and the third in March 2009, all of which i was given the defferment program where i had community service, fines, and classes to take. When i apply for the program it will have been almost 2 years since the latest incident, and when i finish and sit for the NCLEX it will have been a lil over three and a half. I no longer smoke it, but even still I know your past can haunt you. I am getting very nervous due to the fact that NO ONE can give me any inkling as to whether or not i even have a chance. I understand that each person is reviewed on a case by case basis, but 18 months is just a long time to throw away. I am just curious as to wether or not any of you might have any advice or personnel reference for me.

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

There is a forum here on Allnurses that can help you with this. Click here. I will say your charges are pretty recent and close together. You may want to hire a lawyer to see if you can have the records expunged. I've read about people having trouble with drug charges over a decade past.

[McBecca]

Do you know anything about whether or not the fact that i was never officially charged will matter? I have spoken to a lawyer but u can only have one charge expunged/sealed so it really doesn't seem like it would help any since there is more than one charge for the same offense. I was also told that they can view your record even the parts that were expunged/sealed.