nurse colleague caught using drugs, wants back in

Published Feb 8, 2009

356 Posts

Hello all, I'm asking a question for a nurse colleague who is too embarrassed to ask. I have been on inactive status for ten years so I am not sure that I can answer her question.

She graduated around the same time I did, in 1999 and worked in Arizona as an RN for a few years. Not during the time she was an active nurse (she went inactive as well when she had a baby, she was at a show with some friends and someone left a marijuana pipe in the back of her car (it was an open air jeep)..she was charged for having drug paraphernalia but did community service work and she says the charge was dropped and expunged from her record.

A couple years later she was divorced and did not have medical insurance to help treat depression so she said she was ordering medication thru one of those online medical pharmacies (yeah I know..it gets worse). She also applied for and received a medical marijuana card in California.

I don't know her very well so I don't know how truthful she is being but we've stayed in contact over the years. Recently she called me and told me she wanted to get back into nursing, that she's been on prescribed medication for her depression and she no longer has a med. marijuana card, stopped using, etc.

Will her reinstatement have to depend on what state she is applying to? She let her license go inactive to have a baby, not due to the paraphernalia charge (is what she told me)

Also it's been years since I've been in school myself but it seems I once heard about a drug rehab program for nurses. Might she be required to enroll in the program and consent to drug testing as a way to get her license back or will the state board automatically refuse her because she did have a drug charge?

That's about all the info I have..would appreciate any feedback.