Effects of clean, drug relevant, and drug word stimuli upon verbal associations to stages of addiction and steps in drug-taking

Abstract

Seventy-eight male opiate or heroin addicts were given three tests to determine whether differential conditioning occured for stages of addiction, steps in drug-taking or drug effects. Clean word stimuli were associated more with the beginning and ending stages of addiction (“to be clean,” “to live a normal life,” “to be in treatment”). Drug names (mostly nonopiates) were associated with the universal drug effect “to be high” and the intermediate stage of addiction “to chip” (occasional use of a drug). Drug relevant words were associated with advanced steps in drug-taking (“to prepare a shot” and “to fix”) and the advanced stage of addiction (“to be hooked”). It is speculated that differences in responses to drug relevant stimuli between nonaddicted, occasional, and addicted drug users may be simulated by responses of opiate addicts to three levels of word stimuli.