Contact high is a phenomenon that occurs in otherwise sober people who experience a drug-like effect just by coming into contact with someone who is under the influence of a

psychoactive drug A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, mind-altering drug, consciousness-altering drug, psychoactive substance, or psychotropic substance is a chemical substance that alters psychological functioning by modulating central nervous system acti ...

. In a similar way to the ''placebo effect'', a contact high may be caused by

classical conditioning Classical conditioning (also respondent conditioning and Pavlovian conditioning) is a behavioral procedure in which a biologically potent Stimulus (physiology), stimulus (e.g. food, a puff of air on the eye, a potential rival) is paired with a n ...

as well as by the physical and social setting. A 1970s glossary of drug users' language describes a contact high as "a psychogenic 'trip' without taking drugs, by being close to somebody while he is on drugs". The term is sometimes incorrectly used to describe the high experienced by a person who has inhaled secondhand marijuana smoke. In Alexander Shulgin's book ''

PiHKAL ''PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story'' is a book by Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin published in 1991. The subject of the work is Psychoactive drug, psychoactive phenethylamine Derivative (chemistry), chemical derivatives, notably those that act ...

'' under the

2C-I 2C-I, also known as 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenethylamine, is a phenethylamine of the 2C family with psychedelic effects. It was first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin, and is described in Shulgin's book ''PiHKAL'' (1991). The substance is con ...

entry, a notable reaction was observed in a participant who took a

placebo A placebo ( ) can be roughly defined as a sham medical treatment. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. Placebos are used in randomized clinical trials ...

while in an environment with other people who are under the influence of a drug. The participant wrote that he had "absorbed the ambience of the folks who had actually imbibed the material."

References

Drug culture {{psychoactive-stub

See also

References