Which Came First, the Lawyers or the Coke?

Lawyer-Heavy States Have Higher Cocaine Use

Aug 17, 2009
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Cocaine is more likely to be used in states with heavy concentrations of lawyers, a statistical analysis concludes.

Marijuana use, on the other hand, is associated with states with higher concentrations of artists, scientists, architects and educators, according to the Atlantic’s analysis of data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health. The findings showed a statistical correlation between cocaine use and the number of people in a state employed as lawyers and, to a lesser extent, in business and finance occupations, computer jobs, and management fields.

Psychologist Jason Rentfrow, who worked on the analysis, told the Atlantic: “I think it's interesting that cocaine is high for finance, law and quant professions. Although we can't infer whether it's people in those jobs actually doing drugs, those professions are generally regarded as intense and lavish. So it's interesting that an expensive stimulant like cocaine is used more often in places where comparatively large numbers of people work in intense and high-paying jobs. …

“It's also interesting that marijuana is popular in places with artists, designers, and architects because those are jobs that encourage divergent thinking, and marijuana is a psychoactive drug that's associated with creativity.”