Surfing isn’t all big waves and beautiful sunsets over the ocean. The free-wheeling surfing culture is inundated by a sinister tendency toward drug use and addiction, all the way from local surfers to the big-name competitors. But due to the insulating culture, many surfers don’t get help from addiction recovery centers. Surfing’s preoccupation with drugs probably began with its counterculture roots in the 1960s and ’70s. Sharing drugs was a way to foster the community and camaraderie of surfers as well as a means of holding onto and reinforcing their anti-authoritarian image. And though today’s surfers aren’t necessarily trying to contest mainstream culture, drug use has persisted. Drug use is particularly egregious in the higher levels of the sport. Kelly Slater, one of the world’s best professional surfers, says drug use is rampant, and compared the pro surfing scene to rock and roll in its heydey, when plenty of drugs were available on demand. As the pressures to perform and make a high salary mount, more and more pro surfers are using drugs to cope. But as stress rises, the culture remains lax, and many don’t go to drug rehab. Like other professional athletes, pro surfers may turn to substances to help them perform better than their competitors. Drugs may help surfers deal with the anxiety of surfing big waves, recover faster from injuries, and be more alert or energized on the board. ASP, the competitive surfing body, now bans…