It first considers existing drug-use studies on Asian- Pacific American populations and offers a path to building a theoretical foundation for understanding their drug-use patterns and problems. The combined use of ethnographic data and the grounded theory approach provide an important methodological and theoretical vehicle for revealing the hidden dimensions of use among hard-to-reach populations such as Asian-Pacific Americans. The author then examines the ways in which the cultural claims in their lives interact with and shape their initiation into and continued use of illicit substances based on an ethnography of female methamphetamine users in Hawaii. Unlike mental health studies on Asian-Pacific Americans, this analysis suggests that stress from the family is not restricted to cultural and generational conflict. Social problems such as drug use among Asian-Pacific American women are complex. From their early childhood, these women lived in the midst of heated, sometimes violent, conflict that was connected to economic marginality, parental problems with alcohol, and distinctive cultural norms of femininity. Neighborhood and school peers as well as male relatives initially introduced them to alcohol and marijuana. Over time, their user networks widened and their introduction into cocaine and "ice" was through friends, extended kin, and partners. Despite the long-standing tension in their family and their more recent isolation from others due to using "ice," the cultural traditions embedded in the extended kinship system allow many to "return home." 5 tables, 7 notes, and 44 references