FATHER'S GHB CRUSADE NETS BILL TO CLAMP DOWN ON SALE OF DEADLY DRUG

BEEBE -- The day that Tyler Johnson decided to quit taking his bodybuilding
supplement would be the last time his father would ever see him alive.
Tyler, 27, was a college graduate, a soon-to-be husband and was preparing
to go to law school. Also a bodybuilder, for a year he took a supplement
that contained 1,4-butanediol, a relative of GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutyrate.
GHB became commonly known as a drug used by attackers to render victims
quickly unconscious.

Known as BD, 1,4-butanediol metabolizes into GHB in the user's body. Both
drugs, according to recent medical studies, can send a user into a coma and
lead to death.

But neither Tyler nor his father, David Johnson, knew how dangerous BD was
to use -- or to stop using.

Unable to withstand the roller coaster of withdrawal symptoms -- a
sleepless night that included confusion, delirium and tremors -- Tyler
suffered what his father called a "mental collapse" and fatally shot
himself outside their house on July 17.

"He didn't know what he was going through," said David Johnson, tears
welling up in his eyes. "We found out the hard way." Today, however, David
Johnson is working to remove the learning curve for those who want to find
out more about the drugs, which are illegal in the United States, except
for use as industrial solvents. His Web site -- www.butanediol.org --
offers potent information about the dangers of the drugs and the necessary
steps to detoxify a user's system. He worked with legislators to create a
bill to strengthen restrictions and penalties against the use and sale of
GHB and related drugs. House Bill 1155, which was approved by the state
Senate Thursday, is on its way to Gov. Mike Huckabee's desk for possible
ratification into state law. State House of Representatives members
approved it Feb. 1. Still, David Johnson said, much work needs to be done,
including raising awareness of the sale of the banned drugs on the
Internet's open markets. He also wants to make sure law enforcement and
emergency personnel recognize signs of the drugs' use during a medical
crisis. But if nothing else, getting the word out will be enough for the
50-year-old father who each day holds on to memories and pictures instead
of a living and breathing son.

"The number one most important thing that has to be done is to warn people"
about the drugs, David Johnson said. "That knowledge will save thousands
and thousands of lives."

GHB and its relatives commonly are used to make industrial products,
including floor stripper and paint thinner. Its history goes back to 1960,
when it was developed as an anesthetic.

By the 1980s, it was marketed as a way to build muscle while burning fat.
Others used it for euphoric feelings and to enhance sleep and sexual
performance.

Doctors discovered the drug had toxic effects -- including respiratory
depression, unconsciousness, seizures and death -- which led to a banning
of the drug's sale, use and manufacture by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration in 1990.

But GHB didn't go away. The drug began to show up in other forms, under a
loophole of a 1994 federal act that allowed the sale of GHB-relatives as
dietary supplements.

Two years ago, BD began to show up in bodybuilding products, including the
one Tyler used. FDA officials took quick action and declared BD a "health
hazard," calling the BD-laced dietary supplements "unapproved new drugs."
In some cases the FDA completely seized the supplements from suppliers.
"It's terribly, terribly addictive," said Jerry Jones, director of pharmacy
services and drug control for the state Department of Health. Even though
it's no longer available in stores, the number of cases involving GHB or
its relatives steadily climb.

"Extensive industrial use of 1,4-butanediol, in conjunction with the
flexibility and anonymity of Internet marketing, ensures a continued supply
that is almost impossible to regulate," concludes a recent article in the
New England Journal of Medicine.

Between 1990 and 2000, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration recorded
more than 7,100 overdoses and law enforcement encounters involving GHB.
About 75 people have died from GHB-related drugs, although medical studies
estimate the actual number may be higher since GHB overdoses aren't always
recognized in the medical community.

And there have been at least 15 cases of sexual assault associated with the
use of GHB. Such statistics led former President Clinton last year to sign
a prohibition act that made GHB a Schedule I controlled substance, the
strictest level of controls over a drug the federal government has. House
Bill 1155 allows the state health department to increase the controls on
GHB and its relatives to match the federal act. Previously GHB had fewer
restrictions, as a schedule 6 drug.

It's going to strengthen the law in Arkansas," Jones said. "Schedule I
drugs have no medicinal use. They're usually street drugs." If Huckabee
signs HB1155, the state Board of Health will have to formally review the
status of the drug and hold a public hearing before the law would take effect.

Back in Beebe, the reality for David Johnson is a daily chase after the
constantly changing Internet marketing efforts of GHB-type drug suppliers.
As the drug changes formal and slang names, David Johnson makes sure he
programs those names in the hidden files of his Web site so anyone
performing an Internet search for the drug will also find his site in the
search results.

He hopes his efforts will make a difference. "The kind of people who would
be at risk for this stuff are young people," he said. "It's extremely
important they understand what they're really taking, that they understand
what it is, what its potentials are. "It's a matter of life and death."