It’s the middle of the semester and you’re working hard in your classes. You got a little carried away one weekend, but you were just blowing off steam. Unfortunately, you got busted by the cops and slapped with drug possession charges. No big deal, everybody gets caught with weed in college, right?
Here in the South, there can be a cavalier attitude to ward drug and alcohol charges, that it’s something everyone has to deal with eventually, because we all like to cut loose on the weekend, right? Well, regardless of how you may or may not choose to relax and have fun, it is never wise to accept drug charges of any kind.
Drug charges can affect LIFE scholarships and federal student aid
You may think that the easiest solution to being served drug charges is to simply accept them, pay whatever fines are associated, and move on. While this may, technically, be the easiest thing to do, it is not the wisest. When it comes to drug charges, they can cause you to be ineligible for LIFE scholarships, as well as other student aid, even if they are for a very slight offense.
People who search for your records rarely see the specifics
Having a few smudges on your record may seem like acceptable collateral for having a good time in your late teens and twenties, but these things have a pesky way of following you around, and, unfortunately, they can cast a long shadow different areas of your life.
Take the LIFE scholarship example from earlier. The individual reviewing your case is not likely to see that you were charged for having a few grams of marijuana on you person; he or she is only going to see that you were convicted of drug charges. The broad term “drug conviction” doesn’t look nearly as understandable as “possession of a few grams of marijuana.”
This can extend beyond your academic life to employment and housing opportunities. The stigma surrounding drug use is still very negative throughout the country, regardless of how widespread drug use may be. Many employers may pass on you as an otherwise excellent candidate simply because of that pesky “drug conviction” on your record. Similarly, many apartment complexes are not going to care to give you the opportunity to explain that you’re not some dangerous criminal, you just got caught having fun in college.
Fighting a drug conviction is fighting for a fair future
Before you lie down and accept a drug conviction on your record, consider the implications. As unfair as it may be, having a drug conviction of any kind on your record has the potential to make many areas of life more difficult and costly, all for a silly mistake.
It is absolutely worth the investment in your own future to fight drug charges at any cost. If you think that it is not worth the trouble, you are almost certainly not considering how much trouble it will actually entail.
The good news is that drug charges do not have to be accepted. You can fight them – and with the representation of an experienced defense attorney, you may actually have a very good chance of getting them dropped.
Everybody catches a bad break every now and then but that doesn’t make you a bad person. You deserve the best future that you can have, and fighting a drug conviction is fighting for just that – giving yourself the gift of a bright future.