No ones hitting this from what I consider to be the right angle. Let me digress for a moment. I was arrested in Miami in November 2003 at the FTAA protest in M

No ones hitting this from what I consider to be the right angle. Let me digress for a moment. I was arrested in Miami in November 2003 at the FTAA protest in Miami. Spent a night in jail, and eventually all charges were dropped. Read this if you want more info, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_model http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_model. The point is that in my case, I was arrested and I am proud of that. I'll grant that "protestor" sounds more admirable than "had drugs on them". But I think they are similar in some ways. The first and most obvious similarity is the overly-militarized police force in the US. This is the essence of the Miami Model, a now 10-year old strategy of approaching domestic protest movements militaristicly at the local police level rather than as citizens movements. By applying the same tactics to all law enforcement, we end up with situations of over prosecution for things like possession of drugs and paraphernalia that continue to haunt people for years. For what are minor issues (had a joint or some pills on them, throw em in jail) peoples lives are ruined. So to the point I want to address is that it doesn't matter, of at least it shouldn't and it's getting better. Yes, I expect to be Googled and screened when working at a new job. That happened so long ago that no reference really pops up in reference to @geuis (though no doubt it will now) but for me it doesn't matter since it was a protest/civil rights issue that I freely talk about). But just how the stigma of smoking weed in the past doesn't really matter for jobs that matter anymore, the same thing is increasingly true for other recreational drugs. You did E and acid for a bit? Ok, but what kind of engineer/sales/etc person are you? If anything, I think exposure to certain drugs makes people more valuable because you can't help but learn something from it. I know I did. My questions would be like, "So I found this and this, can you talk about that a bit?" This is to determine if they are detrimental addicts (no hire) or just recreational/past users. I'll admit that my vision is blindered because I live in SF, lived in the Miami area, am a liberal, and work in technology. But I count myself as a bell weather of sorts. If the rest of the US is flagging behind in a modern mindset, then eventually they will catch up. Anyway, I guess I'll wrap this up by saying that if someone has a record or doesn't fit into the ordinary pegs and holes, consider other factors when people look for work. Who knows what things you might have in your own past that you were lucky to avoid being arrested for.