The authors first present a brief history of the disturbed- personality and sociocultural views on drug use. The disturbed- personality view argues that nonmedical drug use results primarily from disturbances in functioning in the areas of relationships and coping with anxiety and stress. Sociocultural views of nonmedical drug use in these settings regard this behavior as motivated, peer-oriented, adaptive, and environmentally embedded, reflecting a commitment to a lifestyle that is socially and culturally valued. Although not mutually exclusive, the disturbed-personality and sociocultural views are divergent concepts of the processes by which inner-city youths and young adults become involved in drug use. The authors develop five hypotheses from the literature review. The hypotheses are based on the concept of relative deviance, which asserts that youths/young adults who are deviant from the norms in their particular social and cultural setting in their non-drug use behavior will tend to use drugs that are less acceptable in their environment. Each of the five hypotheses is presented, followed by a discussion of the implications of the theoretical framework for the development of strategies to reduce the risk of drug abuse among youths/young adults. 2 tables and 38 references