Virtual Nightmare: Meth Labs in Second Life

by Steve O'Keefe on October 11, 2010

Into the Lost Crystal CavesGary Stix, who covers neuroscience for Scientific American, recently reported on how one researcher is using the virtual world, Second Life, to better understand drug cravings.

Chris Culbertson, a neuroscientist at UCLA, designed a virtual environment on Second Life in hopes of generating a Pavlovian response from drug users craving a fix. According to Stix,

Culbertson created a virtual meth house, a place where addicts gather, and invited 17 meth users to U.C.L.A. to test it out. To determine their levels of craving, Culbertson had the addicts fill out questionnaires and measured their heart rates as they navigated via computer through the meth house on Second Life.

Can you imagine recruiting 17 meth addicts to visit your lab? Stix doesn’t say what happened when they were released, presumably with a little cash in their pockets for participating in the experiment. He does say that Second Life’s meth house is a private affair, and not accessible to the public.

If that is not entertaining enough for you, the ads on Scientific American will enhance your experience of the article. Next to the story on meth labs in Second Life, SciAm carries an ad for “Into the Lost Crystal Caves” with what look like giant stalactites of crack. It’s enough to drive a meth addict wild. The ad is a promotion for a National Geographic program that premieres this Sunday.

Culbertson is not the only researcher using virtual reality to treat drug addiction. Duke University professor Zach Rosenthal has developed a virtual reality game to guide drug users through tempting environments in order to help them learn how to deal with cravings. Rosenthal told Good Morning America:

What we’re trying to do is take people into a virtual crack-related neighborhood or crack-related setting and have them experience cravings, just like they would in the real world.

Culbertson’s research has shown that virtual environments are more effective in eliciting cravings than other signals, such as videos of people using drugs. You can read an interview with Culbertson about his work in virtual worlds at the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 17 blog.

STEVE O’KEEFE
News Editor, Minitrends Blog

Source: “Craving a Cure: A Virtual Meth House Serves as Fodder for Addiction Studies,” Scientific American, 10/07/10
Source: “Virtual Reality Game Helps Drug Addicts Recover,” Good Morning America, 11/05/07
Source: “The Salon Interviews: The Use of Virtual Reality in Addiction Medicine,” Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 17, 01/07/09
Image from ad in Scientific American, used under Fair Use: Commentary.

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