What Is a Contact High

What Is a Contact High Addiction Drug Use Hallucinogens Print The Contact High of Drug Users By Elizabeth Hartney, BSc., MSc., MA, PhD Elizabeth Hartney, BSc, MSc, MA, PhD is a psychologist, professor, and Director of the Centre for Health Leadership and Research at Royal Roads University, Canada. Learn about our editorial policy Elizabeth Hartney, BSc., MSc., MA, PhD Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD on December 02, 2019 Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital. Learn about our Medical Review Board Steven Gans, MD on December 02, 2019 Fuse / Getty Images More in Addiction Drug Use Hallucinogens Cocaine Heroin Marijuana Meth Ecstasy/MDMA Opioids Prescription Medications Alcohol Use Addictive Behaviors Nicotine Use Coping and Recovery A contact high is an experience of sensing or perceiving drug effects when in the company of someone who has actually taken drugs, without having taken the drug yourself.?? For example, an experienced acid (LSD) user who is spending recreational time with someone who is tripping on LSD may start to feel as if they, too, are under the influence of LSD. They may start to have bizarre thoughts, to experience mild pseudo-hallucinations, and to find everyday situations hilariously funny. Equally, they may share feelings of fear, anxiety, or panic that are being expressed by the other person. A contact high can also happen when someone has taken a placebo, or a substance containing no psychoactive ingredients?? â€" a common money-making drug dealers trick â€" believing that they have taken a real drug when they are around others who really have taken the drug. It may also relate to set and setting, which has a profound impact on users experience of drugs, and even the intensity of the drug effect. The term is sometimes loosely used to refer to the effects of secondhand marijuana smoke.?? Is a Contact High a Real Phenomenon? Unlike the related phenomenon of expectancy effect, in which people experience drug effects when expecting them â€" either through taking a placebo or dummy drug or through taking a real drug?? â€" contact highs are not well researched in the drug abuse field. The difference between an expectancy effect and a contact high is that with a contact high, the person experiencing it need not think that they have actually taken the drug to experience its effects. In contrast, the phenomenon of the contact high is well known within the drug user community â€" and many drug users avoid or seek out other users specifically to avoid or to induce a contact high. Within the rave culture, for example, a sub-set of ex-drug users and non-users choose not to use drugs but enjoy the feelings of stimulation and excitement they feel around others who are on stimulating drugs such as ?ecstasy and meth. A contact high doesnt even require direct contact with the person who has taken drugs. In his review of the book, Tripping: An Anthology of True-Life Psychedelic Adventures, Spalding Gray wrote: I couldnt stop dipping in and out of this juicy book, flying from New York to Detroit. At times, it felt like just reading it was keeping the plane up. Wow! What a contact high.?? As intoxication effects are subjective, meaning they are inner experiences that vary from person to person,?? it is hard to know whether people who describe having a contact high are really having any perceptual changes, or whether they are simply picking up and mirroring the mood of the person who is intoxicated. While this is certainly a significant part of what is described by a contact high, some people who have used the substance before may be triggered to experience a flashback, and may actually have some perceptual changes.?? More research is needed to establish exactly what a contact high is, but the benefit is that generally they are described positively, without the associated costs and risks of really being intoxicated.