DRUG USE ON THE RISE

Law enforcement officials say ecstasy and the 'date-rape drug' GHB are the
favorite choices.

Colorless and odor free, it's hard to detect when slipped into a mixed drink.

But the effects of GHB on the men and women who take it - knowingly or
unwittingly - are becoming quite clear to local law enforcement personnel
and emergency medical workers.

Gamma hydroxybutyrate has caused hundreds of deaths and an untold number of
overdoses nationally and been linked increasingly to sexual assaults.
Locally, recreational usage of the "date-rape drug" and other designer
drugs are on the rise.

"We're seeing more cases involving GHB and ecstasy," said Larry Donaldson,
a lieutenant with the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office and head of the
county's Multi-Agency Drug Task Force. "They're becoming the drug of choice
for young people."

Statistics on the number of people who use these drugs are difficult to
gather. Law enforcement agencies do not keep statistics on designer drug
arrests. But at least 19 people have died in Florida from designer-drug
overdoses in the last three years.

The final annual report from National Drug Control Policy Chief Barry
McCaffrey cited an "explosive increase" in the use of designer drugs among
young people. Other national studies have indicated use among high school
students has doubled during the past two years.

Designer drugs provide an energy boost and make their users less inhibited,
but those effects come at a high cost, said Bob Munson, assistant director
for addictions and substance abuse at the Bridgeway Center.

"They are dangerous, addictive drugs," Munson explained. "Both ecstasy and
GHB are considered 'Schedule 1' drugs, in that they have no accepted
medical use and have a high abusive potential."

A local high school student has seen what such drugs can do. The student,
who wished to remain anonymous, recalled how a friend of his collapsed at a
party and "wound up in a pool of blood" after ingesting a drink believed to
have been spiked with GHB.

Medics were able to revive the boy, and the fluid was pumped from his
system. But the student said the experience was an eye-opener. "It made me
realize you're too young to screw up your life."

Nightclubs and bars are a common site for designer drugs like GHB and
methelynedioxymethamphetamine, also known as MDMA or ecstasy. They can
easily be slipped into a drink or otherwise passed from one person to the next.

"That stuff has reared its ugly head," said James "J.J." Johnson, director
of operations at three of Okaloosa County's most prominent nightspots. "I
just don't understand why people do it."

Dr. Carl Glidden, who specializes in emergency medicine at Fort Walton
Beach Medical Center, said the hospital has admitted its share of GHB users
over the years; cases involving ecstasy are also prevalent.

"Most people know what amount of ecstasy to take, but with the number of
strains of GHB out there," it's hard for many GHB users to know just how
much of the drug they're taking, he said.

GHB was legal until 1991, and was popular with bodybuilders as a muscle
stimulant found in health drinks. But the unpredictable side effects of the
drug, from nausea to amnesia, caused it to be banned by the Food and Drug
Administration.

GHB's is commonly called the date rape drug because women are often
sexually assaulted while under the drug's influence.

Just a few drops of GHB can render a user unconscious, and could even leave
that person in a coma, or dead.

Glidden said there have been a couple GHB-related deaths in the last few
years at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center, including one man who drowned in
his own vomit after being overcome by the drug.

Other people, he said, have had close calls.

"They come in here almost clinically dead, and in some cases they just
abruptly wake up like nothing happened," Glidden said.

Ecstasy has been a fixture on the club/party scene worldwide for well over
a decade. It's commonly taken by clubgoers at all-night "rave" dances to
boost stamina.

Local authorities say ecstasy isn't as pervasive as it once was, but that
doesn't mean the narcotic has lost any luster among drug users.

Tom Matz, who leads the Fort Walton Beach Police Department's street crimes
unit, said a tablet of ecstasy, commonly called "E" or "XTC" on the street,
sells for $25 to $30 these days.

Some ecstasy has been found on students in Okaloosa County, but designer
drugs in general have not found a way into the county's schools, said Lt.
Don Fountain, who oversees the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office school
resource officer program.

He said drug-related investigations at county schools are down by
two-thirds from last school year.

Santa Rosa County's school system wasn't as fortunate.

In early 2000, two teens were arrested in unrelated cases for allegedly
possessing or selling GHB at Milton High School.

Two female MHS students had to be hospitalized after taking the drug.