Expert: John L - 9/29/2008

Question
Hello Mr. Lewis,

I graduated from college in December and I am planning on applying to OCS for the Army. I have a great application qualification-wise. I went to an Ivy League school, graduated in the top quarter of my class, and I speak fluent Chinese. I decided I wanted to apply to OCS about two years ago after spending a semester studying abroad and serving in the Army is what I want to do more than anything in the world.

I am really hung up on the question of my past though. I got caught stealing when I was sixteen and I got caught using a fake ID when I was 19. I have also smoked marijuana probably twenty times and I did cocaine about ten times, one of which was about nine months ago. Besides that one time I have not done any drugs in over two years. I admit doing drugs at all was a huge mistake and something I will never do again regardless, but at this point I don't know what to do about it regarding my application to OCS. I am planning on being one hundred percent honest when I apply. Do you think it will disqualify me?

Please let me know what you think about my chances and what I should do moving forward. Thank you.

Sincerely,
James

Answer
Well,  tough question there.  being honest about drugs is the right thing to do,  It will disqualify you in the front, but a waiver is authorized to a point.  The Marijuana is a non issue when it comes to a waiver.  The cocaine may or may not be an issue.  If you say that the last time was more than 2 years ago and you only TRIED it once, you can get the waiver I would imagine.  The Army says that less than 5 times use of marijuana is experimental and more than that is recreational.  However, marijuana waivers are easy to get except for Military Police.  

Sometime people leave out certain details that they know will disqualify them if it has no impact on their future serving.  

I hope this helps you a little bit.  The President can use drugs in the past, but we hold our military officers to a higher standard.