The role of ethanol abuse in the etiology of heroin-related death

Toxicology analyses and other forensic science data were used to examine the mechanisms through which ethanol increased the risk for death caused by injected street preparations of heroin. The authors studied 505 victims of fatal heroin overdose and compared subjects who had concentrations of blood ethanol greater than 1000 mg/L (n = 306) with those who had concentrations less than, or equal to 1000 mg/L (n = 199). We found significant negative correlations between concentrations of ethanol and morphine (a heroin metabolite) in blood (R2 = 0.11, P = 0.0001 for log10-transformed variables) as well as between concentrations of blood ethanol and bile morphine (R2 = 0.16, P = 0.0001 for log10 bile morphine versus blood morphine). Toxicologic evidence of infrequent heroin use was more common in decedents with blood ethanol concentrations greater than 1000 mg/L than in those with lower concentrations. Our data suggest that ethanol enhances the acute toxicity of heroin, and that ethanol use indirectly influences fatal overdose through its association with infrequent (nonaddictive) heroin use and thus with reduced tolerance to the acute toxic effects of heroin.     

Evidence for the role of the justice motive in status generalization processes

Status generalization refers to the capacity of status characteristics, such as race, gender, or occupation, to become the basis of social inequality even when such characteristics are not directly relevant to the immediate social interaction. For instance, individuals with positively valued status characteristics are more likely to assume positions of power and prestige than those of lower standing. To date, status generalization has been assumed to arise from stereotyped beliefs that associate positive standing on a status characteristic with positively valued personal attributes. Findings from two studies indicate that the capacity for status characteristics to produce power and prestige orders may also depend on people's need to believe in a just world. In the first study, participants were fortuitously granted a position of either superior or equal power and prestige to another person. Consistent with just world predictions, participants portrayed themselves more positively relative to the other on assessments of personal attributes when they occupied a superior position than when they occupied a position of equal power and prestige. Results from a second study showed that the tendency to link personal attributes with power and prestige standing was strongest for participants who scored high on the Just World Scale. Thus, just world beliefs appear to play a role in status generalization processes.     

Coping with transborder penetration: The politics of television

International conflicts are brewing over the transmission of television signals across international boundaries. The dispute is illustrative of an increasing range of cases in which the actions of one national economy penetrate deeply into another, and in which national interests and national values conflict. In this instance, the opposition to such signals stems not only from authoritarian regimes but also from democratically elected governments. The U.S. government defends such transmissions on the basis of strongly held U.S. values, including the concept of maximum choice for viewers and the fear that regulation of an entertainment medium may lead the way to government censorship. U.S. commercial interests are also involved. The conflict promises to grow more acute in time; yet the U.S. government finds it extremely difficult to agree on mitigating measures with other nations in areas of policy such as television, that is, areas that entail both domestic and foreign considerations.