Nursing student taking drugs

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What would you do if you found out that a fellow nursing student is smoking marijuana?

We are a profession and shouldn't be breaking the law.

Yes, I think it's wrong to smoke pot if you're a nurse, definitely.

If it were legal, it'd be a different story, but it's NOT!

So what about underaged student nurses who drink on the weekends? That's breaking the law so should they all be reported and kicked out too? My nursing class would go from 90 to about 15.

I don't think pot should be illegal and I really don't think it's a big deal. Cigarettes and alcohol are much more dangerous so to me, it just doesn't make sense. However, obviously if somebody was coming to clinical high that would be another story. If their use was directly affecting their ability to care for patients and do their job then yes, it's an issue and should definitely be reported. However, if they are doing it on their own time and aren't hurting anybody, it's really none of my business and I honestly don't care one bit. Many of my friends (nursing majors included) smoke pot but I have never joined them. Not because I have any issues with it, it just doesn't appeal to me enough to be worth running the risk of getting caught. However, if they are willing to take that chance and aren't harming anybody in the process I have no idea why I or anybody else would want to report them.

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mind your own business

Enough said...

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We are a profession and shouldn't be breaking the law.

Yes, I think it's wrong to smoke pot if you're a nurse, definitely.

If it were legal, it'd be a different story, but it's NOT!

Am I to assume you paid for all your music and movies too?

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Am I to assume you paid for all your music and movies too?

Or that you never exceed the speed limit, for that matter....

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The way I see it....How would you feel about it if this student was going to be taking care of your parent...or child...during their clinicals??? Prescribed medication is monitored....marijuana is NOT...and it is ILLEGAL...and if they are doing it....the certainly don't need to be in the nursing field....I would MOST CERTAINLY talk in confidence to my instructor...if you know, and do nothing, and that student hurts someone when they are in clinicals and "out of it" on drugs, you would have a lot to answer for.

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The way I see it....How would you feel about it if this student was going to be taking care of your parent...or child...during their clinicals??? Prescribed medication is monitored....marijuana is NOT...and it is ILLEGAL...and if they are doing it....the certainly don't need to be in the nursing field....I would MOST CERTAINLY talk in confidence to my instructor...if you know, and do nothing, and that student hurts someone when they are in clinicals and "out of it" on drugs, you would have a lot to answer for.

Again, its important to make the distinction between being high during work or school, and smoking in the privacy of one's one home.

A nurse who is impaired while working due to any substance [legal or otherwise] is a danger to patients and should be removed from duty. But lets all stop pretending that smoking a J on Saturday is going to somehow endanger your patients when you go to work on Monday, because it doesn't.

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If it was before class,

I wouldn't do anything.

But if someone came to clinical stoned out of there mind,

or drunk off there ass I would hope the instructor would

do something.

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The way I see it....How would you feel about it if this student was going to be taking care of your parent...or child...during their clinicals??? Prescribed medication is monitored....marijuana is NOT...and it is ILLEGAL...and if they are doing it....the certainly don't need to be in the nursing field....I would MOST CERTAINLY talk in confidence to my instructor...if you know, and do nothing, and that student hurts someone when they are in clinicals and "out of it" on drugs, you would have a lot to answer for.

I don't think anybody here is saying that if a classmate is coming to class or clinical high that they shouldn't be reported. Obviously this is a serious issue and something needs to be done before they hurt somebody. I think what we're disagreeing about is whether or not somebody should report a classmate who they know smokes marijuana on their own time.

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Specializes in Clinicals for Practical Nursing.

you are absolutely correct! to a certain extent....

i my practical nursing class there was a female who others claim she was selling drugs in the school parking lot,smoking weed, popping pills (ecstacy), taking prescription drugs for anxiety and she was pregnant...

she did sleep all the time, but i understood that part since she was pregnant, and since her clinical group did not like her, they wrote letters to the nursing program coordinator, and administrators telling them the same stories... well to make a long story short, the school made her drop until she got herself situated....

i felt this was wrong since there was no proof, other than she slept all the time... she was smart and homeless at the time, sleeping in her car with her 2 children and boyfriend avoiding some dangerous living enviroments...

so depending on the information heard or seen i would most likely try and talk to the individual myself before clinicals...

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Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.
Am I to assume you paid for all your music and movies too?

Or that you never exceed the speed limit, for that matter....

Moral equivalency isn't a very good argument, fellas.

He downloaded a song off the internet, so he's free to murder, rape and pillage, am I right?

Or is weed-smoking the only crime you're trying to justify with this argument?

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Moral equivalency isn't a very good argument, fellas.

He downloaded a song off the internet, so he's free to murder, rape and pillage, am I right?

Or is weed-smoking the only crime you're trying to justify with this argument?

Thats not what I'm saying at all.

My point was simply that if someone wants to condemn someone else's action simply because that action is illegal, and not because they are causing actual safety issues/harm to patients [as is the case when a nurse smoke on his/her off time], then perhaps they should examine their own actions in relation to the law, as well.

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Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.
Thats not what I'm saying at all.

My point was simply that if someone wants to condemn someone else's action simply because that action is illegal, and not because they are causing actual safety issues/harm to patients [as is the case when a nurse smoke on his/her off time], then perhaps they should examine their own actions in relation to the law, as well.

They should be abiding by the law, plain and simple.

I shouldn't keep on with this debate. I spent 15 years in law enforcement and corrections, so I'm too biased and set in my ways. :yeah::chuckle

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