Drug Overdoses and the Environments in Which They Occur: Is There a Relationship?

Shepherd Siegle at McMaster University in Canada has conducted interesting research into the phenomenon of “drug overdoses.” Although first reported more than 20 years ago, it is only now entering the mainstream of applied social science.

Siegle and his colleagues have postulated that as drug users--his research has centered on opiates--continually use in a familiar environment, the body's tendency to anticipate the drug and prepare to counter its effects are conditioned by that environment. As a result, when using a typical dose in an unfamiliar environment the individual overdoses. In essence he argues that people do not so much "overdose" as "under prepare" to handle their usual dose in a strange environment. In other words, Pavlovian or “Classical Conditioning” impacts the way an individual is affected by the heroin (other drugs, including alcohol?) consumed based upon the environment in which the drug was consumed.

This research has far reaching implications for many areas of substance use disorder prevention and treatment. Not only may Siegle's research hold some meaning as regards the recent rise of "overdoses" on prescription medication, it will be interesting to consider its implications regarding collegiate alcohol "overdose." As high school students used to drinking in a familiar environment attempt to transplant their drinking behaviors to an alien collegiate environment, this could help social scientists understand the phenomenon of collegiate alcohol poisoning.

To read more, visit:

General overview of the theory - http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/heroin/heroin2.htm or http://www.psywww.com/intropsych/ch05_conditioning/conditioning_and_drug_tolerance.html

A more detailed and referenced review of the theory - http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro03/web1/crichards.html

A 1986 paper by Siegle explaining the phenomenon - http://www1.appstate.edu/~kms/classes/psy5150/Documents/Siegel_CaseHistory.pdf

Another Siegle paper on the topic - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1469825/pdf/envhper00327-0117.pdf

PowerPoint on Classical/Pavlovian Conditioning - http://dogsbody.psych.mun.ca/~bmckim/2800/Chapter3.ppt See slides 32 – 40 for an explanation of Siegle’s findings.