Contact high

{{short description|Drug-like effect from proximity to drug users}}{{other uses|Contact high (disambiguation)}}{{Psychedelic sidebar|Arts|Culture}}'''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. In a similar way to the ''placebo effect'', a contact high may be caused by classical conditioning as well as by the physical and social setting.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.124.11.1600-b|doi = 10.1176/ajp.124.11.1600-b|title = Dr. Bozzetti Replies|year = 1968|last1 = Bozzetti|first1 = L.|journal = American Journal of Psychiatry|volume = 124|issue = 11|url-access = subscription}}</ref><ref name="Olson 2020">{{Cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-020-05464-5|doi=10.1007/s00213-020-05464-5|title=Tripping on nothing: Placebo psychedelics and contextual factors|year=2020|last1=Olson|first1=Jay A.|last2=Suissa-Rocheleau|first2=Léah|last3=Lifshitz|first3=Michael|last4=Raz|first4=Amir|last5=Veissière|first5=Samuel P. L.|journal=Psychopharmacology|volume=237|issue=5|pages=1371–1382|pmid=32144438|s2cid=212577549|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== Definition == {{DEFAULTSORT:Contact High}}The term contact high has its roots in the drug culture of the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1969, a drug abuse book for high school students defined "contact high" as "becoming high merely by interacting with one who is high".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Assembly |first=California Legislature |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Drug_Abuse_for_Junior_and_Senior_High_Sc/vpQW0fKakSAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Contact%20high%22 |title=Drug Abuse for Junior and Senior High School: Science Portion of District Curriculum Guide, San Jose Unified School District |date=1969 |language=en}}</ref> In 1971, a 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 smoke.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The Vocabulary of the Drug User and Alcoholic: A Glossary|journal=International Journal of the Addictions|url=https://doi.org/10.3109/10826087109057793|last=Keup|first=Wolfram|date=Jan 1971|volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=353|doi=10.3109/10826087109057793|pmid=4950517 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In Alexander Shulgin's book ''PiHKAL'', under the 2C-I entry, a notable reaction was observed in a participant who took a placebo 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".<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal033.shtml |via=Erowid Online Books |title=PIHKAL |chapter= #33 2C-I}}</ref>

== In popular culture == The 1966 debut album by New York band the Godz was titled ''Contact High with the Godz''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Godz |url=https://www.furious.com/perfect/godz.html |access-date=2025-11-06 |website=www.furious.com}}</ref>

''Kokomo'', the Beach Boys song from the 1988 film Cocktail and album Still Cruisin', includes the lyric "gave me a tropical contact high".<ref>{{Citation |title=The Beach Boys – Kokomo |url=https://genius.com/The-beach-boys-kokomo-lyrics |access-date=2026-03-29}}</ref>

== References ==

category:drug culture