History of drug use

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

Hi all,

Recently I’ve been selected for an internship which would require me to get a secret level security clearance. One thing that I am concerned about is that when I was in college, I did smoke weed a few times- about 3-4 instances if my memory’s correct. It happened between late 2014 and early 2016, and I haven’t smoked since. I intend to be honest about it when I fill out the SF 86 form, and I also don’t intend to go back to smoking weed. Will this history significantly hinder my ability to obtain a security clearance?

Also during the interview process will I be asked who knows about my past experiments with weed? My mom knows about this and so do some of my friends, but my dad doesn’t, and I’m wondering if this will be an issue.

Another thing: I still have friends who do smoke weed, and within the past year I have been to parties where they have smoked. However, I didn’t smoke weed with them. Basically, is it still an issue if I’ve been to an environment where there were people smoking weed even when I didn’t smoke weed myself?

2

Each agency has its own prescreen guidelines pertaining to drug use. Research your prospective agencies hiring practices and policies regarding said topic.

3

I dont think they’d ask if your familiy knows, but they might ask if you still put yourself in situations where marijuana may be used.

4

I ask if your family are aware of your drug use (or any issue). Hiding behavior from family members might make you a blackmail risk.

5

My mom knows, my dad doesn’t. I may end up just telling him at some point. Does the question of who in my family knows come up in the interview?

6

Yeah they will ask “who knows” for every issue that comes up. So be prepared to give names, phone numbers and address for every person.

7

I would definitely let your parents know because with them they may ask more personal questions and you want everyone on the same page. I got a DUI about 8 years ago and for my security clearance interview they asked me a lot of questions about my current drinking habits and when they visited my parents they also asked them about my drinking habits. So, it’s possible they could do the same thing for drug use.