This study validates the hypothesis that the narcotic overdose is a form of self-destructive behavior. 20 addicts who had recently overdosed & 21 who had never overdosed were assessed with measures of suicide potential, risk-taking propensity & accident proneness. Multivariate analysis of results indicated that the 2 groups did differ; additional analysis indicated that the 3 subject factors were highly correlated to the overdose event (r=.79) & thus could be of value in prediction.