THE HIGH SEAS - PATTERNS OF DRUG-USE AMONG SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SPORT BOAT OPERATIVES

This paper examines the social‐structural context of drug use among a cohort of southern California sport boat operatives. The sample included both captains and deck hands and was drawn exclusively from those who worked on commercial passenger carrying sport fishing vessels. The work culture, which involved both marijuana and cocaine use, was seen as a response to the occupational stresses indigenous to the fishing industry as well as the additional strains and inducements engendered by the client group of recreational anglers. © 1990 by Hemisphere Publishing Corporation.