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MEGA - Drug/Legal issues impacting school/job

Jerry Atrick said:
While I'm not a convicted felon, I have met a few in my line of work. They are also discriminated against while searching for apartments. I'm sure a convicted felon is better off renting from a smaller outfit rather than a large corporate-owned property with blanket policies against renting to convicted felons.
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just went through this hell. I've always had my GF before and we'd put apartments in her name; well, we broke up after my last OD (I needed to leave her and focus on my life) and it's been about 6 months with one slip. around month 3 after saving up and sleeping at my fathers crib, I started to look. I was getting REJECTED by every apartment complex and even small NO BODIES who would run background checks. dude, some of these places SUCKED but I was willing cuz of what I put myself in.

anyway, one day I call for this sick place I see on Craigslist. I meet the 2 owners; both just came from Cali; mother died; they own the house and there is a whole side attached house for rent, month by month, but its expensive as shit. it's 3-400 MORE than I wanted to spend but if you saw the place you'd know why I got it. Hardwood all throughout, all new stainless steel, sick bedroom, bathroom, living room, proch room (will ill make a bong type room, ha)

IT SUCKED FOR 3 MONTHS; I thought I had no shot. I was at the point where I was asking my father if I can put a place in my name and then I met these cool peeps and they let me get set up and going.

grateful for that.
 
As a recent college grad with a clean record, it's hard for everyone to find work these days - I wish you the best but be ready to have to fend for yourself for a few years until the economy gets back on track, if ever...
 
^^ what are you looking to do!? I'll NEVER understand the "cannot find a job" thing. although, I've been in a certain line of business for years, so it's always been easy to follow up, esp. just being in a role that is considered "sales". hell, I am profitable to a company, so how can they NOT hire me!? I make the company cash, so there is no worries when it comes to the hire. again, this has to do w/ the sales world.

for those looking for more specific type work, whether it be writing, marketing, accounting, etc, I can see WHY it MAY be hard; esp. if having criminal charges against you. but it can be DONE! trust me! as said before, I have trafficking and a DUI on my record; but I've bee working since first stepping FOOT out of jail. I LIED on my applications upfront and always said "NO" to being charge of a felony or crime. this is all dependent on company size/imagine. if you are trying to get a job w/ the state/city, then a background check will surly be run and you are better off being upfront.

if someone has a question, just ask. I've been in the RECRUITING WORLD for years and also in sales for years, so I have/know many ways around it. I also know when to be completely upfront and just honest and tell them about mistakes that have been made. sometimes you may want to HIDE this upfront and then during the interview process bring it up, if need be. this way they are GETTING TO KNOW YOU, and maybe like you, so they give you a chance. as opposed to looking at a piece of paper and just saying "NEXT".

as said before, if I can do it, ANYONE can do it. I did a lot of BAD in my past; but I never meant BAD by it. they were all mistakes made based on age, location, insight, etc. people can understand that; some may have been there themselves.
 
Why not just open up your own business? That way you get to pick your own income and decide whether or not you want to screen yourself. And it's the most fun career out there.
 
Recent university graduate, 2 years ago received a class b misdemeanor for marijuana possession. Had about a blunts worth on me. The entire arrest in a small texas town was sketchy, this was all about money. Rehab or community service was never an option...basically just fuck you, pay me.

Anyhow it really wasn't an issue until I recently graduated since I worked as a server in restaurants, where you pretty much have to either be an alcoholic or on drugs. My record is relatively minor compared others, hell a few states legalized the fucking substance. I was arrested in a backward ass hillbilly town in Texas and I ended up doing deferred adjudication. My lawyer offered to seal the record for a grand, but it's more like "sealed" since it's not 100 percent. Why pay a grand if it still shows up in certain searches?

Two years later I graduated, and finding something I can actually use my degree for is impossible. Part of having a criminal record is that it gives the morally shallow some kind of 'I'm better than you because I don't use drugs" type of god complex.

I've tried to be forthcoming with employers. I either get a rejection email or if I actually go on an interview the mere mention of 'marijuana misdemeanor' gets me a look similar to one you might get if you jammed a pen up your asshole. Pisses me off, because the holy rollers that frown upon my marijuana use are the same people that go home every night and drink their asses off or popping their Xanax. All the while pretending they are the almighty because they go to church. Don't get me started on those hypocritical bastards...

As my career search drags on, I'm realizing I'm going to be stuck in a shitty job I hate. And for what? Because I had a blunts worth of weed on me? Seriously fuck you Texas!!! If texas isn't the most backward state in the United States it's definitely up there. Google the Texas surcharge program if you don't believe me. Drove with no insurance because I was poor and had to get to work. Got a 700 dollar ticket and got put into the surcharge program. For 3 years, I have to pay the state of Texas an additional 300 dollars a year or they take my drivers license away. Tell me, how the fuck does that make sense to punish poor people with even more goddam fines!?!? Remember cops, the people you arrest for small petty amounts that now have to work in the service industry because no one will hire them...they will remember your texas surcharge program and jack off in your milkshake. Extra thick. Slurp away you piggy fucks.

I haven't given up, but realize I need to get out of Texas. With states beginning to legalize marijuana, it would be ironic as hell to get a job in the booming marijuana industry in a progressive state...which is the exact thing being used to discriminate against me in Texas that limits my job opportunities with the degree.

I paid my debt to society. Continually punishing people over and over, preventing them from having a life just backs them into a corner with few options. Depending on how desperate things become, those options become more drastic. As for me, I view it as divine intervention prompting me to leave this redneck hellhole of a state.
 
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I've got caught plagiarizing a few times in college, and somehow always got let off the hook. Never done anything illegal really except driving drunk- It's dumb- I know, but usually just a block or two back to my apartment complex
 
I was fortunate not to have a record after everything I have done.

However, a huge chain store tried to bust me for shoplifting last year (2,000$ fine 1st offense), but I got out of it.

LP people bruised me up pretty bad and ruptured the stitches in my finger that I just had surgery on the day before after cutting it off. Kinda hard to steal a buggy full of items with one hand. Lol

My lawyer got ne out of it and the judge rewarded me some money for pain and suffering, as I had to be re-sutured the next day.
 
Can recovered addicts work any job once clean? (E.g. Paramedic, social worker)

Just wondering as I would love to go back to uni, study paramedic sciene and become either a paramedic. I have the right qualifications but worry my medical history and heroin addiction in it would make it impossible to become one. Any ideas?

Thank you.
 
lots of former addicts go into the drug counselling side of social work.

Honestly it depends on a lot of factors (arrests, jail, etc)... Your best bet is to see what field you are interested in, and reach out to people in the industry and education sector for that field and get real advice from people. Uni faculty are often a good start.
 
It depends on where you're at. Like harmacologist said, you'll have to ask those in the field in order to be able to assess your options.
 
Thank you. Personally, I've never had any arrests or any convictions, I'm just an addict. That's a good idea, I guess I should do some research into working for the nhs with a bad medical record.
 
How would any job know you were ever an addict?
Aside from a possible drug charge conviction imean
 
I would never trust a drug counselor who hasn't been down that dark road.
A nurse at the detox clinic I was staying in was a former addict , total opiate fiend and here she was handing me benzos, so yes it's possible to get a job in the drug world after addiction.
 
my shrink is a junkie and he's fucking awesome.
If you wanna stay clean , he'll help you.
if you need pills, he'll help.
takes one to know one. He'd rather write me soma scripts than have me calling around looking for pills
 
Trying2Iso said:
How would any job know you were ever an addict?
Aside from a possible drug charge conviction imean
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Well I am worried that working for the NHS (public healthcare in the UK) might be hard, as well, they have my medical record, and maybe being a former opiate addict there are certain guidelines to letting me work as a paramedic.
 
Almost every employment application I've ever seen here in the US asks about drug use that occurred within the past 5 years, even for highly sensitive positions (e.g. requiring access to controlled substances). I don't know if some legal requirement prevents them from asking about use outside of that period, but that's the cutoff I'm used to seeing.

Could you talk to someone in the field you want to pursue? I think if you pose the question just like you did in this thread you could get some useful responses.
 
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