Guideline H: Drug Involvement and Substance Misuse
Decided hearing cases
3,627
Grant rate
25%
906 granted · 2,721 denied
Specific issues and their outcomes
Marijuana
25% granted · 786 granted · 2,370 denied
Drug involvement (unspecified)
23% granted · 357 granted · 1,208 denied
Cocaine
21% granted · 147 granted · 558 denied
Drug distribution / dealing
17% granted · 89 granted · 421 denied
Stated intent to use again
15% granted · 72 granted · 405 denied
Drug test failure
16% granted · 58 granted · 306 denied
Mitigations judges credited most
- Acknowledgment & remorse90
- Documented abstinence period50
- Passage of time22
- Signed intent with revocation clause20
- Rehabilitation evidence16
Counted only where the judge expressly credited the mitigation, not merely where it was claimed.
What the reference material says about drug cases
- Internal government adjudicator guidance suggests abstinence benchmarks by usage pattern: about 6 months for experimental or occasional marijuana, 1 year for frequent marijuana or experimental use of another drug, 2 years for regular marijuana or occasional other drugs, 3 years for frequent or regular other drugs, and 5 years after minor trafficking or an uncompleted treatment program. That guidance states twice that it is not policy and may not be cited as authority, and published decisions exist accepting shorter periods. (Adjudicative Desk Reference (2014), non-binding)
- By statute, only current unlawful drug users are barred from holding any clearance; past use is weighed under the guideline, not banned outright. (The Bond Amendment)
- Marijuana remains federally illegal regardless of state law, and the manner of use does not matter to the analysis. (Practitioner sources)
From our verified reference library: paraphrased from the named sources and reviewed before publication. Descriptive background, not legal advice about any case.
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For attorneys and firms →Descriptive statistics from decided public DOHA cases. Not legal advice or a prediction. † marks samples under 20 cases.