Today’s question is, will I lose my license through the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy if I get a DWI? Most likely you will not. Now, the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy does not require that you immediately—or within a certain timeframe—report arrest or convictions of crimes, crimes being misdemeanors, felonies, traffic infractions, infractions of that nature do not count. However, you will be required to disclose it when you do your renewal application for your license through the Pharmacy Board. If you check “no” on that box, that is not good. You then have created a situation where they are not going to trust you. They are going to find out about it eventually.
So you have to be honest, and if you lie, that creates another situation that is in itself a separate infraction with the Board, and that is probably going to end up being worse. Now, since you are licensed by the Pharmacy Board, you are likely to be referred to the Physician’s Healthcare Program. This program is for a lot of licensed healthcare professionals in North Carolina, including pharmacists, where the Board will refer the pharmacist or pharmacy tech to the program. They will do an assessment to see if the individual licensee has a substance abuse issue. If they think that there might be a substance abuse issue, then they are referred further out to a professional in that field, and the licensee is required to follow along and do what the other licensed professional requires them to do to make sure that the substance abuse issue is taken care of.
As long as the licensee adheres to that and does not have any issues in it, then they are most likely to get back to work sooner rather than later. But if they do not adhere to it and they start having problems again, then that could be a potential situation where the licensee could end up with a suspension or a revocation. However, just the DUI or DWI itself would not be something that would lead to a revocation or a suspension. Now, if it is a DWI of manslaughter or if this is the third time or beyond and it becomes a major issue, then that is potentially a different story. However, if it is just the first DWI arrest and or conviction, you are most likely not going to lose your license.
*Nothing in this blog establishes an attorney-client relationship. Nothing in this blog is legal advice. If you have any questions, please check out our other blogs and our Youtube channel. You can also call us at 919-521-8810 with questions.