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Sorry if this is inappropriate but i cant find info anywhere. Do people smoke weed at T14 schools? if students do, which jobs are off the table? I know all Fed Gov't involves background checks, and i know AUSA/prosecution probably wouldn't be an option. But hows that process go down? do they lie detector test all applicants before making a formal offer? Or they ask you to disclose all illegal activity and if you've used illegal drugs since college you're rejected? I know they call your friends and neighbors and stuff for AUSA and maybe DOJ jobs.

again, sorry if this offends anyone.. i just would rather have this information going into school rather than when its too late

The best answer: just don't smoke weed and you won't have anything to worry about.

Other than that, I can only speak from experience. I had two internships with federal agencies during law school and all of the background checks were pretty basic. I don't think they ever asked me if I had engaged in illegal activities or anything like that. Didn't have a lie detector test. Not sure if they contacted references (never asked them).

I think you'd be best off quitting when starting law school. I wouldn't worry about the employers so much as I would worry about the weed smoking hindering your ability to bring in top grades and land SA's and summer internships. We can all pull off the smoking weed and getting through undergrad thing, but law school is different. At least from everything I have heard. I am an 0L so I could be wrong.

USAOs drug test, and they ask you to disclose illegal drug use in the 7 years before the check. (Pretty sure they mean federally illegal so being in CO or WA won't help.)

A. Nony Mouse wrote:USAOs drug test, and they ask you to disclose illegal drug use in the 7 years before the check. (Pretty sure they mean federally illegal so being in CO or WA won't help.)

I was wondering that about CO and WA (just out of curiosity). Makes sense that "the feds" need to run a tight ship. I have a friend who works for the state department and who is strictly and randomly drug tested. I wouldn't be surprised if this was true of DOJ.

lol at this being offensive. And I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that of the couple thousand students at these schools, most of whom are in their twenties, a couple smoke pot

kwabedi wrote:I think you'd be best off quitting when starting law school. I wouldn't worry about the employers so much as I would worry about the weed smoking hindering your ability to bring in top grades and land SA's and summer internships. We can all pull off the smoking weed and getting through undergrad thing, but law school is different. At least from everything I have heard. I am an 0L so I could be wrong.

I'll just say that from experience I can tell you that this isn't true

arose928 wrote:

kwabedi wrote:I think you'd be best off quitting when starting law school. I wouldn't worry about the employers so much as I would worry about the weed smoking hindering your ability to bring in top grades and land SA's and summer internships. We can all pull off the smoking weed and getting through undergrad thing, but law school is different. At least from everything I have heard. I am an 0L so I could be wrong.

I'll just say that from experience I can tell you that this isn't true

interesting

kwabedi wrote:I think you'd be best off quitting when starting law school. I wouldn't worry about the employers so much as I would worry about the weed smoking hindering your ability to bring in top grades and land SA's and summer internships. We can all pull off the smoking weed and getting through undergrad thing, but law school is different. At least from everything I have heard. I am an 0L so I could be wrong.

You are indeed wrong.

Clearly wrote:

kwabedi wrote:I think you'd be best off quitting when starting law school. I wouldn't worry about the employers so much as I would worry about the weed smoking hindering your ability to bring in top grades and land SA's and summer internships. We can all pull off the smoking weed and getting through undergrad thing, but law school is different. At least from everything I have heard. I am an 0L so I could be wrong.

You are indeed wrong.

this just went from interesting to exciting

Plenty of students smoke weed / do other drugs. Not really any bigger a deal than doing it earlier in your life but you probably want to be careful about bringing stuff out when you go to the bars. I imagine a drug charge right before taking the bar could be problematic for character and fitness.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:USAOs drug test, and they ask you to disclose illegal drug use in the 7 years before the check. (Pretty sure they mean federally illegal so being in CO or WA won't help.)

I suppose this is more cultural and depends on the decision maker, but at this point is that something they care about? I mean, if you say, "I smoked lightly in undergrad", is that going to affect you at all?

My understanding is that only post-bar drug use is a dealbreaker. Beyond that, it will probably depend on what else the person has in their background.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:My understanding is that only post-bar drug use is a dealbreaker. Beyond that, it will probably depend on what else the person has in their background.

Post-bar, not post undergrad? interesting

For permanent positions, yes. It might depend on when you're actually hired (people almost never get hired at USAOs straight out of law school so "post-bar" should be some time in the past).

And it might still present a problem and torpedo a given person's clearance, but it won't necessarily do so.

I have several friends who went to T14 schools. Most of them smoked pot during law school, as did many of their classmates, all of them smoked pot (and did other drugs) in undergrad, and most of them are employed by the government (after growing weary of BigLaw). One of them is an AUSA and has a drug charge on his record from college (and he was KJD, so not that long ago). I suppose playing it safe is always a good call, but I don't get the impression that drug usage (and certainly something as common as pot smoking) is a big deal.

ETA: Of course, as far as I know, most of them do not use any drugs currently.