100% I very nearly ended up in the military in Canada. Somewhat far along in the interview process I admitted to having used marijuana within the last year (ma

100% I very nearly ended up in the military in Canada. Somewhat far along in the interview process I admitted to having used marijuana within the last year (maybe it was 3 months, I can't recall). I make it a point to be an honest person. Boom. That was the end of that process. I went on with life and ended up quite glad. A few years later I am working with some government (mostly RCMP) information security experts and I realized - holy shit - these people are not exactly the cream of the crop. I recall not having much luck getting them to understand some very basic C and what a buffer overflow was. Not to say there aren't some very competent people in the RCMP and CSIS/etc in Canada. But I can't help but think they are missing out on some of the best because of policies like that. I understand the potential risks with someone who might be involved in illegal activities, but, to be honest the supposed straight shooters don't have a great track record themselves. See Cameron Ortis as a fine example. Of course, talking to some military guys about this years later they all laughed and wondered why I didn't just lie. (Yeah, this is about Canada, but, same idea ;))