Cocaine Use Violates Disciplinary Probation

We posted a comment Friday about a D.C. reciprocal case that questioned whether personal cocaine use violates ethics rules. A decision from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court involves an attorney placed on probation after a three-month suspension in 2006. Probation conditions included a requirement to abstain from alcohol and mind-altering drugs. The attorney violated the probation by using cocaine on several occasions, one of which resulted in his arrest.

The Pennsylvania Board found the attorney “an intelligent, sincere, candid individual who has found it difficult to abstain fron using drugs and alcohol.” As he has not practiced law since 2002, he was suspended for a year and thereafter continued on probation for two years with monitoring of his sobriety. (Mike Frisch)