An influencer nurse who was caught attempting to smuggle more than 35 kilograms of cannabis into the United Kingdom has been allowed to retain her nursing license. Levi Whalley, 32, faced losing her job after she and a friend were stopped by Border Force officials at Birmingham Airport with the significant drug stash.
Whalley's suitcase alone contained 38 packages of the Class-B drug, weighing 19 kilograms. She claimed the pair were returning from a shopping trip in New York. The nurse, who has nearly 45,000 Instagram followers, narrowly avoided a jail sentence for the offense. Instead, she received a 16-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work.
A tribunal with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) ruled that revoking Whalley's license would be "unduly punitive" given the "very difficult" personal circumstances she was experiencing at the time. The panel noted that Whalley had always aspired to be a nurse, beginning her healthcare career at age 18 and qualifying in 2019. She worked in healthcare, including a management role at an eye clinic, before establishing her own business as a nurse injector. She had not been able to practice her profession since her arrest and suspension in December 2023.
Whalley was arrested at Birmingham Airport in December 2023. Her phone and passport were seized, and West Midlands Police referred her to the NMC. She was convicted of drug smuggling at Blackburn Magistrates' Court in February 2025. Two months later, she received her suspended sentence at Preston Crown Court.
During the NMC tribunal, Whalley testified about her personal struggles, stating that a friend had offered her a free trip to New York for escapism after a difficult period. She admitted to making an irrational decision without considering the consequences. The panel heard that Whalley panicked before her flight home and received threatening messages regarding her home and family, which influenced her decision to proceed with smuggling the drugs. She expressed significant regret for her actions.
The NMC panel concluded that the conviction was not fundamentally incompatible with Whalley remaining on the nursing register. However, a nursing regulator has stated its intention to seek her dismissal from her employment. Whalley has been suspended from nursing for 12 months, a period deemed appropriate by the panel to acknowledge the seriousness of her conviction.