Medical Drug Rehab 3 years before medical school... will it cause problems applying to residency?

[gutonc]

I successfully completed a drug treatment program 3 years before matriculating into medical school. It was an inpatient facility. I have been clean for 5 years now, and am very active in the recovery community and would have no problems proving all of that... will this interfere with the residency application process? The state I live in, and the place I want to do residency, has this question on its license application "Have you ever been chemically dependant?". By the time I apply for residency, I will have nearly 7 years clean. I have no criminal charges.

As you point out, this is state dependent, but nearly every state (and every hospital you will eventually want to credential at) will have some form of that question for you to answer. And your answer should be yes. That's the bad news.

The good news is that, while you will have to answer yes to the question and give an explanation, you already have that, and that will be more than good enough for anybody.

What you don't want to do is try to hide the issue and then have it discovered later. The maxim that "it's better to ask forgiveness than permission" does not apply in medicine. You will be given "permission" relatively easily in most situations. You will likely not be "forgiven" more than once, if at all.

TL;DR - Tell the truth (which it seems is your intention) and you'll be fine. And congratulations/good luck with the continued sobriety.

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