General Will smoking pot be an issue as an aspiring physician?

[gutonc]

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I’ve been smoking marijuana for roughly 8 years now and smoke on a consistent basis. Freshman year of my undergraduate I decided to pursue medicine as an optometrist and have since planned to go for the MD as a primary physician, one day as an independent physician hopefully in a rural area. I love helping people and biology, so medicine naturally seemed like a perfect fit for me. I excel in all my courses and plan to take the MCAT this summer, but as the date closes in this continues to bother me. I was prescribed ADD medication growing up but found that it made me anxious and accelerated my heart rate, making me uncomfortable while taking it. Marijuana seems to relax me while also allowing me to focus which is one of the main reasons why I have continued do so. I just wanted to know the reality of attending medical school and becoming a physician while also a regular smoker of marijuana. Thank you in advance for your input.

Yes it will.

You will be drug tested at multiple steps along the way, potentially including at matriculation to med school, prior to starting clinicals, at the start of residency and again for fellowship, possibly when starting a new attending position, etc, etc. Piss positive at any point prior to being an attending and kiss your career in medicine goodbye.

We can have a million discussions about the potential benefits of cannabis and derivatives as well as the fact that alcohol is legal and weed is not. But the reality is that, as long as marijuana is illegal at the federal level (which is not a foregone conclusion forever, or even over the course of your education/training), using it puts your career at risk.