GHB a dangerous drinking partner

Sue Doyle

NEWPORT BEACH -- A liquid drug that swings with some nightclub crowds has

gained popularity in another place -- the emergency room.

The combination of GHB -- which is usually sold by the capful for about

$5 -- when mixed with alcohol can make a deadly drink. The two drugs have

such sedative effects that when combined, a person can stop breathing and

even have seizures, said Daniel Headrick, director of the chemical

dependency center at Hoag Hospital.

Newport Beach police this week raided a Lakewood drug lab and arrested

two suspects for manufacturing and distributing gammahydroxybutrate, or

GHB.

Police hope the bust will plug up one of the city’s main GHB suppliers.

But authorities say this week’s bust in no way means the end of the

dangerous drug, which they say is appearing more and more in the Newport

Beach nightclub scene.

Although overdoses of GHB are on the rise, alcohol remains the top drug

for addiction, Headrick said.

“People mix [GHB] with alcohol. It doesn’t take much GHB to get them

off-balance. Then people black out and don’t remember things,” Headrick

said.

From inside the addiction center, Headrick says it’s hard to say if major

GHB abuse derives from rave parties and nightclubs. Typically, users are

younger than 40. Many are fairly successful people in their 30s.

Police officials report more and more calls for GHB overdoses. Users can

pour it in a water bottle, where it looks inconspicuous, said Newport

Beach police Sgt. Mike McDermott.

Headrick recalls one addict who was pursuing a biochemistrydoctorate

degree. The man used GHB in small quantities for many years, but then

became trapped.

“He was a smart guy. Just not smarter than the drug,” Headrick said.

Many people try to find a perfect combination of drugs, where one is a

sedative and the other is an upper. Mixing the two can prolong drug use,

instead of building a tolerance to just one, Headrick said.

“The upper and downer mixture is also more addictive,” Headrick said.

“Those people have a lot more healing to do in their brains.”

Headrick said a common myth that GHB is simply “liquid ecstasy” couldn’t

be further from the truth -- one is a downer while the other is a

stimulant.

The only similar thing about GHB and ecstasy is that they both cause a

person’s sense of touch and feeling to be distorted, he said.

McDermott recalls one case involving a man who was thrashing around and

nearly ended up comatose. He had consumed two capfuls of GHB mixed with a

tablet of ecstasy.

But some people use GHB to harm others.

The memory loss associated with GHB is what has caused the substance to

sometimes be labeled the “date rape” drug. It is those cases, because the

person consuming GHB is doing so unsuspectingly, that are seen more and

more in the emergency room, Headrick said.

“With GHB, your memory doesn’t work. You can walk and talk and not know

what happened,” Headrick said.