LITTLE-KNOWN DRUG, GHB, KILLING TEENS, ADULTS

A life cut short on the cusp of adulthood is heart-breaking, especially
when death could have been prevented.

As friends sprinkled the ashes of 18-year-old Chase Taylor on the Atlantic
Ocean earlier this week, they tried to understand how he died. The rest of
us are left to grapple with yet another drug that could claim the lives of
our children in an unguarded or careless moment.

Taylor was a recent graduate of Currituck County High School who was bound
for Old Dominion University. He died July 15, authorities believe, of an
apparent overdose of the drug GHB, also known as gamma hydroxybutyrate. He
had been drinking vodka and a clear liquid, believed to be GHB, when he
began vomiting, passed out and never regained consciousness.

The drug may not be in the lexicon of many people in Hampton Roads -- yet.
That needs to change.

Jerry Frankenheim, a pharmacologist with the National Institute on Drug
Abuse, says the drug can be extremely dangerous. It can induce a deep coma.
``What often happens, users swallow vomit into their lungs,'' Frankenheim
said from Rockville, Md. ``If there's some problem, get them to the
emergency room immediately.''

GHB was made illegal last year. A decade earlier, the Food and Drug
Administration issued an advisory declaring GHB unsafe except under
FDA-approved, physician-supervised use. The drug, often linked to use at
rave parties, is a depressant. People consume it to get a feeling of
euphoria or relaxation.

But the drug, which is made from chemicals used in floor stripper and lye,
is a killer. (And why would anybody ingest chemicals like that?)

Officials say there's no easy test to detect the drug, and it's unclear as
to how many people have suffered injury or death from it.

Trinka Porrata, a retired Los Angeles Police Department detective, has
become very vocal on the need for education about the drug. She says that,
since 1990, more than 200 have died from GHB. She bases the total on
government reports, newspaper accounts and other sources.

Better start talking with youth about this drug. It's not to be trifled
with. A chance to get high could prove a shortcut to death.