Getting accepted with petty drug possesion

Nurses Criminal

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Hi everyone!

I am on track to begin my ABSN program this August. However I am worried about the criminal background check that will be conducted. I'm attending a Christian University and while looking at their student policy handbook, I saw that for the education students, there were strict guidelines and they couldn't have any type of infraction on their records, even any misdemeanor or drug possession. Now I totally understand this, as they will be working with children. Underneath this portion, it stated that nursing students just needed to complete a background check. So now I am all worried because two years ago, I received a petty misdemeanor for a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. I never got arrested, just had to pay a fine. I have not had a single issue with housing or getting a job with this on my record thus far, I'm just terrified that I won't be accepted. I contacted an attorney right away and am not working on the expungement process but if it is not done in time that I am supposed to start, does anyone foresee any issues with me being accepted?

Also to add, I received this charge in Minnesota, and am now living and attending school in Illinois. In Mn, the charge was a petty misdemeanor, which translated here would either be a petty charge or class C misdemeanor? I'm not entirely sure how that would work. Marijuana will also be legal in IL January of 2020 if that matters?

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I would call the school and ask.

Is there a different school you can apply to? If their handbook says no offenses, not even infractions, my guess is that they wouldn’t let you in but I would call and ask.

Personally I wouldnt want to attend a school with those types of standards. Most schools allow for a little wiggle room and base their standards off the BON. Your school seems a little judgey IMO.

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Specializes in Psych.

Cannabis prohibition is ridiculous and I’m sorry that you went through that. However it will depend on your board of nursing and how old the charges are. Good luck.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

I agree with the previous comments. Your board of nursing is the first place I would seek guidance from to ensure that you are able to obtain licensure once you have graduated.

You stated "I never got arrested, just had to pay a fine." Does this mean were not taken into custody, placed in handcuffs and fingerprinted and that you were issued a summons and had to appear in court?

Even if you just received a summons for the marijuana possession, you were not free to leave until the police verified your identity and had completed the summons for you to sign. This by definition is an arrest.

Regardless of whether marijuana will be legal in 2020, it was not at the time of your possession. I am not an expert in the law, however, if you are licensed in a nursing compact state, you will be fingerprinted. Your fingerprints and vital statistics will be sent to the FBI for part of your background check.

Whether a citation or fine is included in your background check depends on the type of citation and how the information was processed. For example, most parking fines are processed locally and therefore would not appear on a national check. A court-ordered fine as part of a criminal sentence may appear on an FBI background check.

An FBI background check includes a list of all public federal misdemeanor and felony convictions.

I was licensed in Colorado, prior to the new nursing license compact. As I was a resident of Colorado for more than 5 years, all that was required at the time was a Colorado Bureau of Investigations' vital statistics background check. Now, if I were to be licensed, I would be required to submit fingerprints and have an FBI background check as well.

With all this said, it is best to be honest with the school and with the BON before you commit to any nursing program. Nursing is one of the most trusted professions and one of the reasons we enjoy this distinction is the integrity we as nurses uphold ourselves to.

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First, I am not a lawyer. But if you were not arrested and only "fine and cost," you probably did not even have a criminal background. Were you fingerprinted or booked? If not, I think you shouldn't worry.

I live in the South and all moving traffic violations are misdemeanors in nature and I got a "passing a stopped school bus" violation. I spoke with the BON and I even emailed a message to BON. I was told, "As long as you were not arrested, you don't need to report that traffic violation." My lawyer said the same thing. I also almost hired a lawyer who was used to work for Board of Nursing and he said the same thing. If you were arrested and booked, that will be a different story.

However, if a name based criminal search on a county level, you name might pop up. From what I know is that if you were not arrested, the "crime" will not be reported to FBI or DOJ. This is the reason why when you apply for a nursing license, you might ask to be fingerprinted because there is a fingerprint based criminal background check. But since you were not arrested, you should "relax."

The meaning of an "arrest" by definition is when a police officer moved you from one location to another for further processing such as mugshot and fingerprint. Just make sure you speak to a lawyer or ask for free on AVVO site, this web site has a lot of lawyers answering questions you might have.

This is America! There is always a hope somewhere waiting for you. You have to look for it. In Texas, if misdemeanor is 5 years old, the BON won't even do anything.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.
On 10/11/2019 at 1:34 PM, karmax1 said:

The meaning of an "arrest" by definition is when a police officer moved you from one location to another for further processing such as mugshot and fingerprint. Just make sure you speak to a lawyer or ask for free on AVVO site, this web site has a lot of lawyers answering questions you might have.

An arrest is not the act of going to jail, an arrest is an act of being detained by the police. If you do not have the free will to go about your business and the police are keeping you from leaving, you are by definition "under arrest."

Ultimately, a formal arrest consists of having your Miranda Rights read to you. Once you have been "Mirandized" you are under arrest.

Honestly, you are getting conflicting advice on this forum. I would hope that anyone who is facing such a situation would consult with an employment attorney before making a mistake such as inadvertently making a false statement on a nursing license application that could affect the rest of one's life.

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Well, when you have an arrest record, that "arrest" record will follow you around in county, state as well as federal levels. On the other hands, if you are not arrested, it is only pop up on a county level where the "crimes" you were committed.

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I have a similar situation I was fined/cited for petty marijuana possession/paraphernalia it was dropped to attempted disorderly conduct. when I would get fingerprints it wouldn't show up any where but I still reported to the board of nursing and had to do a year of monitoring and probation as an lpn. the consent agreement wasn't bad at all, just get it expunged off your record it doesn't take long. I got mine expunged finished my monitoring now when I go to take my rn nclex they will ask me if I ever been treated for drug abuse etc you will have to say yes and be at the mercy of the board . you probably will have to do another consent agreement who knows. good luck

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