College Students Using Fewer Drugs Except for Cocaine

WASHINGTON — College students in 1986 are using fewer illegal drugs than their 1980 counterparts, except for one--cocaine--and 30% try the drug once restricted to the rich before they graduate, according to a study released today.

More than half said even if they did not want to try cocaine, they knew where they could get it, the study by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research reported in its survey of 1,100 college students.

Only one-third saw much risk associated with trying it--a figure that has remained unchanged since 1980 despite the adverse publicity cocaine has received, the study said, including the recent cocaine-related deaths of sports figures Len Bias and Don Rogers.