Hi all. So I’m wrapping up my eQip. It makes me look like a saint. I answered truthfully on everything. However, I do have a drug history outside the 7 year window of the eQip that I will outline here:
Over twenty years ago (late teens / early 20’s) I was involved in a serious relationship with a woman who was into drugs. During that 1-2 year period with her, I experimented with all sorts of drugs, hard drugs included. Not frequent use but occasional use (perhaps 15 or so times with crack/cocaine/pcp and a handful of times with lsd, ecstasy, heroin). I didn’t care for the drug use and wanted to stop. She didn’t want to stop so I broke it off. Aside from that use, I have done MJ occasionally from 1993 to the latest usage in 2005 (15 years ago). Nothing since.
The eQip did not cover this time period or circumstance. So two questions:
Should I volunteer this information somehow? Will I be asked in the interview? I don’t want to be deceptive at all but also don’t want to unnecessarily over share.
Do you think I’m screwed? I have no other red flags - no criminal record, no financial issues historical or otherwise , no foreign affiliations, no vices, etc. This isn’t an IC job or even a government job. But we deal with sensitive data and I might even require TS for some future interactions with the IC.
There’s no need to unless you are specifically asked. If they cared about drug usage past the last 7 years they would put that on the form/website like all the other “ever” questions. Don’t overthink it.
Thanks for the input. I’ve been reading other posts here on drug history and haven’t been able to put together a cohesive picture of what to expect. Sounds like I may be needlessly worrying myself.
If an interview is required, you will be asked a general question about any illegal drug use.
You can answer yes, but all use was outside the scope of the questionnaire and none of your use was required to be listed, i.e. resulted in arrests, citations, etc.
You may get a follow question or two but most investigators will not create issues where none exist.
Thanks for the reply. I’m really only concerned about the use of hard drugs. I figured that might raise some eyebrows. Hopefully, l’ll be able to keep responses more general without being evasive.
I often write here . . . These aren’t trick questions designed to trip you up. Just answer the questions that are asked, as they are asked.
As noted, you might be asked a more general questions but when you answer, truthfully, remember that there was no need to report it on you application because it is far out of the scope of the questions asked.
As to your second question, no . . . you are not screwed in any way.
Thanks for the reassurance Ed. I’ve been worrying myself silly that my drug history would be a deal breaker and this is such a great job that it would be a real shame to lose it.
@fed-investigator, The sf-86 does ask to provide the type of drug if answering yes. I had also read that the drug used, along with frequency and recency, comes into play in the evaluation. So I figured this might be considered in my situation as well. But thanks for the advice. I’ll just answer as honestly as possible and hope for the best.
The drug, frequency and recency DO all come into play in the decision. The SF-86 doesn’t define any drug as “hard” or anything else. It’s either “drugs” or “no drugs” . . .
@EdFarmerIII Thanks for clarifying. I’m sure the particular drugs I used doesn’t look too great. So hopefully the recency and frequency in my case are enough to mitigate this.
I’ll echo what others have said here. Don’t bring things up that are outside of the time scope, it can only hinder things. Be honest if asked questions in the “have you ever” category but stick to the script. If you volunteer some issue that normally we wouldn’t ask you about or have to resolve it will just make everything more complicated on both ends.
@Jmp1013 Thank you very much for the advice. My only concern is that I wouldn’t want non-disclosure to be viewed as withholding. But I guess if I am not asked, then I am not withholding. I appreciate the input.
Exactly. Good for you for wanting to be honest and forthright. That’s so important. But yeah it’s only withholding if you lie or omit something that is required to be discussed. I had quite a bit of MJ use in my high school years that I did not discuss because they fell outside the scope. Now, I’m due to have a lifestyle poly in the future which I’m sure will phrase the questions in different ways (such as “have you ever”) and of course that is the time to be truthful. If they ask why I didn’t mention it on the form I’m just going to say that it was outside the time scope they dictated. (Although I’d hope they’d know that already haha)