GHB 183
have potential for reducing damage from bleeding. Animal experiments also
suggest the drug may have potential in treating heart attack. Although GHB
is a depressant that has been used successfully to treat insomnia, it has also
been used to treat narcolepsy, a condition in which people have difficulty
staying awake.
According to law enforcement authorities, rapists have exploited GHB’s sed-
ative effect to make victims pliable. From 1996 to 1999 a total of 22 such
reports reached the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. From 1996 to 1999
a group of 2,003 urine samples were compiled from victims across the United
States in sexual assault cases where drugs were a suspected weapon used by
the assailant. Analysis found GHB orflunitrazepamin fewer than 2%, and
the number of instances declined in each passing year. At about the same
time, a 26-month study collected 1,179 samples from sexual assault cases na-
tionwide in which a drug was suspected of playing a role and found 4% to
be positive for GHB.
Persons wanting GHB sometimes obtain GBL instead (gamma butyrolac-
tone, nicknamed Blue Nitro Vitality or Firewater). The body converts a dose
of GBL into GHB, so their effects are about the same. Products containing GBL
can be poisonous, a fact that some drug abusers learn in dramatic ways.
Recreational users take GHB for euphoria and hallucinations, to increase
sociability, to promote interest in sexual activity, and to lower inhibitions. One
drug misuser who used GBL likened its effects toalcohol. GBL is also mar-
keted as a mood elevator, a quality that some GHB users ascribe to that sub-
stance as well. Researchers using various scientific measurements have
confirmed that GHB promotes mental calmness but may simultaneously make
a person feel discontented.
Drawbacks.Tests using medical-size doses (which may be smaller than ones
taken by illicit users) reveal no impairment of mental or physical abilities; the
researchers concluded that GHB does not hurt job performance or ability to
drive a car. Nevertheless, GHB is suspected of causing an automobile driver
to pass out, and the drug’s sleep-inducing properties make it inadvisable to
use while operating dangerous machinery. Supposedly the drug causes am-
nesia about events that occur while a person is intoxicated with the substance,
although experiments using medical-size doses find no effect on short-term
memory. A large-enough dose can slow heart rate and interfere with a per-
son’s ability to move and make a person vomit and fall asleep. Breathing
difficulty can occur. Seizures have been reported, but some authorities believe
those reports have misidentified various muscle contractions as seizures. In
monkeys the drug lowers body temperature. In rats that effect depends on a
dose’s size, with small amounts raising body temperature and large amounts
lowering it. An odd overdose effect has been observed in persons who tem-
porarily stop breathing yet become violent despite that impairment. The drug
reduces control of urination and defecation. Although GHB can cause blood
to appear in urine, no damage to body organs has been observed. People can
take medical doses for years without showing any psychotic symptoms.
Abuse factors.Experiments with monkeys show little abuse potential in the
drug, but some medical personnel who treat drug abusers consider the po-
tential to be high. GHB abusers, however, tend to have bad relationships with