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Issue Encyclopedia · Guideline H · Drug Involvement

MDMA / Ecstasy

What the decided record shows for this issue, computed from public DOHA hearing-level decisions. Descriptive history, not a prediction.

Does mdma / ecstasy affect a security clearance?

MDMA / Ecstasy is an issue decided under Guideline H, Drug Involvement. In the decided DOHA record it appears in 213 hearing-level cases, and 26% of the 213 decided ended with access granted (55 granted, 158 denied). The mitigating conditions judges credited most often, and example decisions either way, are below.

Basis: 213 decided hearing-level cases raising this issue. Descriptive history of decided cases, not a prediction.

More questions people ask the record

Decided cases

213

hearing-level decisions raising this issue

Granted

26%

55 granted · 158 denied or revoked

Official mitigating conditions cited

The formal mitigating conditions the case profiles identified on this issue, in cases that were granted and in cases that were denied. Each is shown with its paragraph number and a plain name. Read what each condition says.

  • ¶ 26(a) · So long ago, or so infrequent, that it is unlikely to recur

    In granted cases
    28
    In denied cases
    6

  • ¶ 26(b) · The involvement acknowledged, with abstinence established

    In granted cases
    21
    In denied cases
    6

  • ¶ 26(c) · Prescription misuse followed a prolonged illness and has ended

    In granted cases
    5
    In denied cases
    1

Circumstances credited in granted cases

The specific circumstances the judge expressly credited among the granted cases on this issue where that detail was extracted.
  • acknowledgment and remorse · credited in 1 granted case

Recent decided examples

  • ISCR Case No. 25-00035Granted2026

    Applicant, a Marine Corps veteran and educated contractor, admitted long-term marijuana use, limited ecstasy use, cocaine use, psilocybin mushroom use, and a juvenile marijuana-related arrest. The jud…

  • ISCR Case No. 25-00508Granted2026

    The applicant in this case was a 37-year-old defense contractor seeking a security clearance for the first time. The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency issued a Statement of Reasons (SOR)…

  • ISCR Case No. 25-00552Denied2026

    The case involves an applicant seeking security clearance who faced allegations under Guidelines D, H, and E. The applicant admitted to some drug use and mental health issues but denied allegations of…

  • ISCR Case No. 25-01219Denied2026

    Applicant, a represented defense contractor employee, admitted using hallucinogenic mushrooms, MDMA, and LSD while holding a security clearance. He also admitted possessing the drugs and, later, an ad…

See all 213 decisions on this issue

Related issues under Guideline H

How these numbers are measured

Scope: decided hearing-level cases whose per-allegation profile records this issue, matched to the same issue value the search filters use, so a count here and a filtered search always agree. A case raising several issues counts under each one. The mitigating conditions and the credited circumstances below were extracted for a subset of the record, so both are counts of cases rather than rates. Pages exist only for issues with at least 25 decided cases, and † marks any split built on fewer than 20.

Reading the statistics

  • Granted = access granted or continued; Denied = denied or revoked.
  • Grant rate = granted ÷ (granted + denied).
  • † marks figures based on fewer than 20 cases, too few to be reliable.
  • Hovering any rate shows its statistical range (a 95% confidence interval).
  • Figures are descriptive counts over decided, public DOHA ISCR decisions, never predictions or assessments of any pending case.

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