TEEN RECALLS DRUG OVERDOSE AT SCHOOL

Looking back, the 17-year-old Centennial High School student recalled
nothing out of the ordinary on the Tuesday last month when he overdosed on
a popular new drug purchased over the Internet.

The high school junior got up at his usual time, showered and dressed. The
only difference that day was he skipped breakfast.

And, as he'd done for the last month, he added a mini shampoo bottle with
the drug 1,4 butanediol to his backpack.

He remembered thinking it was going to be an especially good day.

Between morning classes he sat down on a bench to take a sip from his water
bottle mixed with one dose of 1,4 butanediol. He leaned his head back to
drink and closed his eyes.

When he opened them he was in a hospital bed.

This 17-year old and his mother agreed to share their frightening
experience with this drug on condition that their names not be used.

1,4 butanediol and similar drugs GHB and GBL are relatively new to
Bakersfield. The boy marked the first encounter the Bakersfield police have
had with the drugs.

But the drugs have earned an insidious reputation in larger cities, where
they have been called date rape drugs for their ability to knock a person
unconscious after being slipped into drinks. They're also known as "rave"
drugs because of their popularity among rave party goers. Though these
drugs and the drug known as ecstasy are popular among young people and
linked to the rave or club scene, the drugs are very different in makeup
and their effects on the body.

1,4 butanediol, GHB and GBL are essentially depressants. Ecstasy is a
methamphetamine derivative that can act as an upper.

1,4 butanediol, GHB and GBL induce a feeling of drunkenness, without
alcohol's after-effects such as hangovers. And also unlike alcohol or other
drugs, these drugs leave a user's system relatively quickly without a trace.

The drugs can slow the central nervous system to the point of dangerously
low respiratory rates and unconsciousness.

That's what happened to the 17-year old boy.

When Hall Ambulance paramedics responded to the overdose call at Centennial
High, the boy's heart rate had dropped to 30 beats a minute. Normal is 75
to 100 beats a minute.

He was breathing six to eight times a minute. Normal is 16 to 20
respirations a minute.

Paramedics are at a loss in combating reactions to 1,4 butanediol or GHB,
said Tom McGinnis, director of quality assurance at Hall Ambulance.
McGinnis began studying the drug after learning of the overdose.

"The way this chemical works, it is the ruler on the central nervous
system," McGinnis said. Drugs typically used by paramedics to jump-start
the heart after an overdose on other narcotics such as heroin can't
counteract the effects of GHB and 1,4 butanediol on the central nervous system.

All paramedics can do is provide an airway, do cardiopulmonary
resuscitation and maintain basic life functions until the drug wears off,
McGinnis said.

The drug the boy used — 1,4 butanediol — is an analog of GHB. The body
converts 1,4 butanediol or GBL into GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyrate.

The 17-year old said the drug gave him a drunken feeling and a heightened
sense of touch.

At times he twitched.

"We'd call it shockwaves where you'd feel the blood go through your veins,"
he said.

That is actually the heart trying to save itself, McGinnis said.

The chemical dramatically slows the heart rate, he explained. But at times
the heart tries to recover. The pulse instantly jumps from a rate of 40
beats per minute to 70, causing the so-called shockwaves.

The 17-year-old had seen friends pass out from taking 1,4 butanediol and he
had passed out while using it as well.

One time he remembered taking 15 doses in four hours. He eventually passed
out and woke up later as though he'd never touched the drug. On at least
one other occasion he vomited.

Still, he didn't think it was a big deal.

Teens often carry the drugs in small containers like trial-size shampoo
bottles because small doses produce the desired effects.

Doses cost anywhere from 75 cents to $5. A trial-size shampoo bottle holds
four doses. A dose is usually half a cap full or a half teaspoon. Just that
much can creates the equivalent of a .10 or .12 blood alcohol level. A
motorist is considered legally intoxicated at .08.

"I didn't consider (the drug) that serious," the 17-year-old said.

He'd heard about GHB from friends and he's read about it in news magazines.
He eventually bought the 1,4 butanediol from another guy who had purchased
the drug over the Internet.

GHB and 1,4 butanediol are available on the Internet, although most
companies can't sell the chemical to people in California, Bakersfield
police Sgt. Brad Roark said.

In January, GHB and it's analogs were named schedule two drugs, like
cocaine or heroin, making it a felony in California to possess GHB or its
analogs for consumption or sale.

Still, 1,4 butanediol can be found in some solvents in chemical supply
stores. It has legitimate chemical uses such as stripping floors.

GHB used to be sold legally as a human growth hormone and was used by body
builders as a steroid. But it was pulled from store shelves in 1990, after
being on the market less than a year, because it could cause vomiting,
seizures, low respiratory rates and unconsciousness.

Identifying the drugs can be difficult, Bakersfield police narcotics Sgt.
Brad Roark said.

"What makes this hard to recognize is that the drugs can be carried around
as water or in eye droppers," Roark said. The clear liquid can be mixed to
disguise its slightly salty taste. GHB is said to be odorless, but 1,4
butanediol can have a strong smell and taste.

Unlike most other drugs, GHB, 1,4 butanediol and GBL are undetectable in
blood or urine after just eight hours.

Law enforcement and medical personnel say that's one reason they've had a
hard time tracking these drugs. That's also why most parents have never
heard of them. And that's probably why most users underestimate the
seriousness of the drugs.

The 17-year old said he started hearing about GHB in Bakersfield about a
year ago. While he has heard about people using the drugs at a few other
local high schools, he doesn't think the drugs are widespread.

The boy's mother said she had never heard of GHB.

"It is so disheartening to think that I almost lost my son and there are so
many parents that can lose their children because of this," she said.

"Parents need to know that these substances are so accessible."