I recently had a couple of people coming into my office for occupational driver's licenses who were surprised when they received driver's license suspensions due to drug convictions. One guy had gotten a Class B Misdemeanor Possession of Marijuana conviction, and the other had been conviction of Possession of Controlled Substance (cocaine). I had not represented either of these guys in their respective drug cases. When each guy was in court entering his guilty plea to a drug conviction, neither the courts admonished them, nor did their attorneys warn them, that they could receive an automatic driver's license suspension for being convicted of a drug offense.
They did not find out about the driver's license consequences until they received the suspension notices from DPS in the mail. Unfortunately for them, if you are convicted of a drug offense in Texas, you receive an automatic suspension of your driver's license -- even if you weren't driving a car at the time you were arrested. Generally, the suspension is for six (6) months, but if you are under 21 years of age, its a year. And unfortunately, courts are not legally required to warn you of these potential driver's license consequences when you enter a plea. For those of you on deferred adjudication of a drug offense, if your deferred adjudication probation is later adjudicated/revoked, then the suspension kicks in at that point. Before you consider entering into a deal in a drug case, always ask about, and consider, the potential driver's license consequences. If doesn't necessarily mean that you still won't wind up deciding to take the deal, but at least you'll be prepared to make arrangements to drive for work, school, etc.