Would this risk my nursing career?

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Hello everyone, hope all is doing well.I would like to seek further guidance about a situation I have found myself in.I am in 4th semester of my nursing program and I have been dating my significant other for the past year. Recently he has invited me to hang out with his friends at a Rave party where there will be Molly involved. I denied the invitation due to my fear of tainting my name as a nursing student. My concern is, what are the legal risks in California involved for a nursing student/R.N to date a former drug user who is revisiting such drugs, even if my drug screen is tested clean? Any insight is much appreciated.

He's not a former drug user, he's a drug user period.

What would be the legal risks involved for a nursing student/R.N to date someone who is a drug user?

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

You'd have to talk to a lawyer to get a good handle on the legal risks.

But there would be plenty of risks that you could get sucked into his lifestyle and be effected by the drama that will be involved as he continues to use drugs and/or tries to break his addiction again. You also might get charged with "possession" if he puts some in your purse or car.

Stay away -- or get him help. Don't enable or support his addiction.

Would it be frowned upon? Possibly. Is it illegal? I wouldn't say so. You can't be legally held accountable for someone else's decision to abuse drugs.

Wow. Of course that can risk your nursing career. Dump him now. If you get caught up with him, you will never be able to work in a hospital health field again.

Legally the only risks you have is if you are with him when he gets caught with drugs. If you test clean and don't do drugs yourself I think you'll be fine, but is it a good idea to stay with him? Probably not. If he is known to be a drug user and you date him then people will probably assume you do drugs, too. My middle school friend and co-worker is a RN and he goes to the occasional rave and uses molly. As far as I know nobody at work knows what he does on his time off. So I think it is possible to avoid having one impact the other, but why risk it? You don't want to get sucked into doing drugs.

If he is 'revisiting' he is not a former drug user, he is a current drug user. There are plenty of risks, my dad was an LAPD Sgt and he impressed upon me that if I were in a home, concert or car with cocaine (long time ago) or any other drug I was going along for the ride if they were to be arrested.

I don't see how this is a risk since you refused to go ? , the only thing this shows is that you are not a drug addict like him .

Specializes in ED.

While we are not lawyers, we all have similar opinion. He is an addict.

Imagine this....

you go to pick boyfriend up from said Rave. You get pulled over leaving that known drug area and, lo and behold, boyfriend has drugs in his pocket while he is in YOUR car. Guess who gets arrested. Guess who goes to jail and gets booked and charged with possession?

You. Your face gets plastered on the local "Just Busted" publication and your family and friends find out.

Your parents have to put up some money for your bail and you have to then hire an attorney. Those aren't cheap by the way. A good criminal lawyer, which you would require to save your license, will cost about $300-400 per HOUR.

You wait a year or more until your case is finally in the courts.

In the meantime, your co-horts have all graduated, taken boards and gotten jobs.

You are unable to obtain your license because you still have a pending court case.

The go before the judge and he wants to know why you, a nursing student with so much potential, has found herself in his courtroom.

You have to look the judge in the eye and tell your story. He may or may not believe you. He sentences you to a drug diversion program. There goes another year or more you are unable to obtain your license which also means you are now TWO years post graduation and will have to take remedial courses to be allowed to sit for the board exam.

Where is the boyfriend in all of this? Either in jail, rehab, or long gone or even worse.

Was it worth it?

Specializes in 15 years in ICU, 22 years in PACU.

Well, there is always risk to consider in any decision. This story, though, is such a predictable hot mess in risking a license you don't even have yet.

A Professional License is a privilege not a right. They're kinda tricky to get for a reason. You have serious responsibilities to the public that the average person doesn't have and the BON will take very seriously and enforce. Most nurses consider their license a precious commodity and treat it with respect. Tainting your name is the least of your worries if you want a job in nursing. An unencumbered license is golden. Not that you can't get a job, just a lot of 'splainin' to do, Lucy.

Folks that get caught up in a dragnet of drug use/abuse by association will go through HELL to keep their license. They bay their sad stories : I only had one three months ago, My girlfriend gave me something and I didn't know it was cut with Fentanyl. They didn't tell me they would have drugs in the car. etc. Then when the punishing system of rehab gets claws into them it is YEARS of monitoring, urine drug screens, invasion of privacy, restrictions, classes, lawyers and assorted other expensive BS. You get a long time to think about the wisdom of that decision. Was it worth the risk?

You are already considering the "what if I get caught" scenario. Change it to "not an option" and get some distance from your slippery slope of a boyfriend.

Specializes in Med-Tele; ED; ICU.

@Fallen_embers, have some respect for yourself and choose someone in your life who doesn't suffer from addiction issues. Drug addiction heads in one way only and that is a spiral down.

I know of one nurse personally who got entangled in drug use through a boyfriend and I've read of several cases where nurses were caught diverting drugs under pressure from boyfriends.

To quote Billy Squier: "You, you've got a lot to learn... you're playing with fire, you might get burned."

Surely you can do better for yourself than an active drug user.

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