Survey Finds Illegal Drug Use by 20% of Law Students : Education: But many administrators express reluctance to expel, suspend or require treatment for those who are involved in substance abuse.

More than 20% of law students questioned in a nationwide survey said they had used illegal drugs in the past year, a special committee of law school faculty and administrators reported Thursday.

The finding was included in a preliminary report by the American Assn. of Law Schools on drug and alcohol use among students at 121 accredited law schools in the United States.

Despite the finding of significant illegal drug use among those about to enter the legal profession, there appeared to be some reluctance by administrators to expel, suspend or require treatment for students using illicit substances.

Fifty percent of administrators said they would warn students for the occasional use of cocaine and 10% said they would give no warning. Sixty-two percent said that for marijuana use they would only warn students and 27% said they would issue no warning.

Susana I. Aleman, a committee member and assistant dean of students at the University of Texas, noted that 3% of students said in questionnaires that they needed help in coping with drug and alcohol problems.

Aleman said that although that percentage might seem low, it still represents more than 4,000 students attending accredited law schools. “Obviously we have work to do,” she said.

The report also said that 26% of law school officials reported that they employed faculty members who had been impaired by alcohol or drug use within the last five years.

The study, the first of its kind, offered detailed data on substance use among 3,388 law students who responded in November, 1991. The report compared the results to other studies that have measured substance use among college and high school graduates.

Of the law students, 21.9% said they had used marijuana, cocaine, LSD or some other illegal drug in the past year, compared to 20.2% of college graduates and 27.7% of high school graduates.

Substance use generally increased as students went through law school, suggesting that some students may turn to alcohol and drugs in the highly competitive atmosphere, the study found.

“The seeds may be sown in law school,” Robert A. Stein, the committee chairman and law dean at the University of Minnesota, told members at the group’s annual meeting. “These are problems we have ignored and pretended did not exist.”

Drug and alcohol use among practicing lawyers has been viewed with increasing concern within the profession. Some authorities say substance abuse is a factor in half or more of the disciplinary cases brought against attorneys.

In California, Bar leaders have estimated that one in seven of the state’s 133,000 lawyers have serious alcohol or drug use problems. Lawyers in the state are required to take a course on substance abuse, along with classes on ethics, race bias and other subjects.