Interviews were conducted with two teenagers, one black and a member of the so-called underclass who lived in a public housing project and the other white and a member of the middle class who lived in her mother's four-bedroom home. The black teenager was born to a teenage mother and was later placed in a group home for troubled teenagers. The mother of the white teenager was a lawyer and divorced when her daughter was in second grade. Interview data indicate that being a member of the middle class means having material possessions and resources with which to acquire them and that individuals who have life options or have a stake in conventional life tend to have a greater capacity for controlling drug use. Being from the underclass means having few if any possessions, no resources with which to acquire them, and no reasonable expectation that circumstances will improve. The authors conclude social class and race profoundly shape the context in which cocaine use occurs and how individual use patterns and consequences develop. 23 references and 5 notes