Even if you have successfully completed a drug rehab program and are now completely clean, there may be aspects of your past, when you were a drug user, that may still feel as though they haunt you. One such scenario is if you were found guilty of a crime related to your drug use and, as a result, now have a criminal record. A criminal record can seem like a large chain holding you back from employment, going back into education or obtaining credit.
There are indeed many enlightened employers, education establishments and credit organisations that look past someone’s criminal past and try to look at the attributes the person now has rather than judge them for past indiscretions. It is to their credit that many of these organisations see someone going through a drug rehab program as a positive and proof that they can show commitment to achieving a goal.
It has to be said that achieving the goal of giving up drugs, as you may well know, is one that requires a lot more grit and determination than many goals we could mention. Ultimately, it proves you can focus on something difficult to achieve and stay the course until you succeed. Many employers and others decide upon your value as a person who shows admirable courage and puts your drug rehab in the plus column rather than the minus column.
However, as you may have experienced, not all potential employers or others who might have made decisions regarding your future take the same view. At first sight of any kind of criminality, it sees your application sent directly to the ‘Declined’ pile. The question you may now have is, ‘Can I Fix This?’
First the bad news is that you cannot wipe clean your conviction from the record as soon as you pay a fine or are released from prison. The simple fact is this is a process for which you must be patient. However, given that it can have an impact on your life for many years to come, it is worth it.
What you need to request is that your conviction be regarded as spent. This removes from the publicly accessible records that you were convicted of a crime. More importantly, it removes any obligation on you to disclose that you have been convicted of a crime in your past when applying for jobs, credit, and the like. However, you must understand that it will remain on your court and police files and may be considered if you are convicted of any crimes in the future.
The procedures and the specific authority you contact to have your conviction spent will depend on whether your crime is regarded as a serious conviction or a lesser conviction. Serious is a crime with more than one year imprisonment or a fine greater than $15,000. a lesser conviction is one where the term of imprisonment was less than one year, or the fine was less than $15,000.
Regardless of which authority you need apply to, the usual waiting time before you request that your conviction is spent will be between 5 and 10 years. It might seem a long wait, but it will be worth pursuing if means that the opportunities which are opened up to you increase and improve for you as time passes.