DANCING WITH DEATH

The "Party" Drug Called GHB Is Leaving A Trail Of Tragedy Across America

The four Connecticut teenagers were in top spirits after taking final
exams last June. To celebrate, they left Ridgefield High School and
drove to a local diner, where three of the boys measured out a small
amount of a clear liquid into their milk. Later 16-year-old David
Grover drove them to his house to pick up his viola for orchestra
practice. Feeling mellow, he and two pals poured more of the drug into
a bottle of soda and passed it around. Then they headed back to the
car.

Grover drove only a short distance before saying, "I need to pull
over." He staggered from the car in the driveway of a recreational
area. Soon he lay down on his back and passed out. Before long, two
others joined him, slumping into unconsciousness as well. The fourth
boy, who had not taken any GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), looked on as
his still-unconscious friends began to twitch convulsively and vomit.
Now panicked, he summoned help.

Minutes later police arrived. "They were covered with vomit," Sgt.
Daniel Ryan of the Ridgefield Police Department recalls. "The officers
found no pulses, no signs of life. They were dying." Medics from three
ambulances worked desperately on the boys, then rushed them to the
hospital. Firetruck hoses were used to wash down the mess left at the
scene.

One boy revived that afternoon, another the next day. Grover lay in a
coma, on a ventilator, for two days. Today he still has a short-term
memory deficit from the time his brain was deprived of oxygen.

Driven Underground

These three young men are recent victims of a fashionable drug that
has been sweeping through the country. "GHB is considered even cooler
than heroin," notes Ginna Marston at the Partnership for a Drug-Free
America (PDFA). At $5 to $10 a hit -- one to two teaspoons -- GHB is
relatively cheap. It is also difficult to detect, and easy to concoct
from recipes anonymously posted on the Internet -- easier than baking
bread," according to one message.

At low doses, the drug acts as a relaxant, lowering inhibition and
creating a euphoric state of well being. It does so by depressing the
central nervous system, as do alcohol, barbiturates and tranquilizers
- -- only indescribably more so. "You feel kind of drunk, warm and
cozy," one user explains. "And there's no hangover." But it doesn't
take much GHB to move a user from cozy or euphoric to unconscious, or
even dead.

GHB came on the market as an over-the-counter sleep, diet and
body-building aid in the '80s. "It didn't take long for users to
notice the drug provided a buzz," says Trinka Porrata, a former
narcotics detective for the Los Angeles Police Department who now
consults nationally on drug issues.

The FDA seized dietary supplements containing GHB after a number of
illnesses were reported. "The drug just went underground," Porrata
notes. "And the number of victims has increased steadily."

A Certain Cachet

In January 1999, 15-year-old Samantha Reid and several friends were
watching videos in Grosse Ile, a Detroit suburb. That evening, GHB was
poured into her glass of Mountain Dew -- to make things more "lively,"
as one individual said. The freshman basketball player fell into a
coma and died the next day. Three young men were convicted of
involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. A
fourth, convicted of being an accessory after the fact, was sentenced
to up to five years.

The DEA has recorded more than 5700 GHB-related cases in the past
decade, including overdoses, possession, trafficking -- and 65 deaths.
Experts believe there are many more, partly because lab tests used by
law enforcement and health professionals do not routinely screen for
GHB. The Houdini-like drug, which is quickly metabolized by the body
into carbon dioxide and water, vanishes with barely a trace within 12
hours.

Ironically, GHB's danger is part of its attraction. "One of the drug's
nicknames is Grievous Bodily Harm," says PDFA's Marston. "Rather than
warning people away, the name has a certain cachet for some. 'Look at
me,' users say. 'I'm on the edge. I'm dancing with death.'"

Walt Davis (not his real name), a 20-year-old disc jockey, attests to
the drug's popularity at all-night parties called raves: "You get
bored with what you've done; you keep searching for that next answer,
that better high." Adds Jacqueline Marque, a recent college graduate
from New Orleans, "A lot of people go to raves just because they love
the music and like to dance, but if you're interested, drugs are
readily available -- including GHB. Most raves offer 'chill-out' rooms
for people too high to dance any longer. There's always someone who's
passed out."

Too late some of these party-goers learn about another, seamier side
of the drug. "Kids trust people they've never seen before," one law
enforcement officer told Reader's Digest. "With GHB on the scene,
sometimes they discover a week or two later they've been raped."

Knockout Drops

The DEA has tallied 48 victims of alleged sexual assault who tested
positive for GHB, as well as 30 victims in documented sexual-assault
cases. But it's believed countless episodes go unreported. The drug
can knock a woman out, leaving her powerless to resist a sexual
assault and with no memory, or only spotty memories, of it later.

In August 1999 San Francisco businessman Angel Flores was convicted of
raping four women after spiking their drinks with a drug believed to
be GHB or something very similar. San Francisco Assistant District
Attorney Linda Klee selected only the strongest cases to present to
the jury. One of the women, for example, testified that she woke up in
Flores's bed with him on top of her. She immediately pushed him away
and fled, informing the police.

Flores, who was sentenced to 24 years in prison, admitted to having
sex with up to 70 women. All of the women consented, he claimed --
including the four who testified at trial. Flores has appealed.

Equally egregious was a 1997 case in Los Angeles, where a 39-year-old
disc jockey and his 40-year-old roommate used a plastic bottle filled
with GHB to spike the drinks of women -- and their male dates. There
were 16 official victims at trial, including ten women who were
sexually assaulted. "Actually, these sexual predators victimized many
more women," declares Renee Korn, deputy district attorney in Los
Angeles County. "We merely selected the strongest cases."

Several victims had no recall of being raped and sodomized. But there
was proof. In some instances, the men took pictures of their crimes,
which police discovered, and which were presented to a shocked jury.
Steven Hagemann, the disc jockey who masterminded the plot, was
sentenced to 77 years in prison. Danny Bohannon, his accomplice, got
19 years. Both men have appealed.

Because of GHB (and other drugs), the Rape Treatment Center at Santa
Monica-U.C.L.A. Medical Center today offers tips for those going out
on dates or to parties, nightclubs and the like. "Never leave a drink
alone, only drink beverages you pour yourself and don't drink from a
shared container," advises the center's director, Gail Abarbanel.
"Don't drink anything that tastes or looks unusual, such as a soda
that tastes salty, has excessive foam or leaves a residue on the glass."

Bogus Claims

Earlier this year President Clinton signed a law that classifies GHB
as a federal Schedule-I substance, joining such drugs as heroin and
LSD.

Nevertheless, GHB use will not likely abate. Not only is it cheap and
easy to synthesize, with recipes widely available on the Internet, but
its safety and effectiveness are touted by many websites.

Kyle Hagmann of Big Bear Lake, Calif., was one who mistakenly believed
these claims. When a classmate at California Lutheran University in
Thousand Oaks, Calif., told him GHB was a safe sleep aid, he checked
it out on the Web, where its virtues were seconded. After going out
for drinks with friends one night last April, the college junior with
a 3.9 grade-point average took some liquid GHB to help him sleep-which
it had in the past. He was found dead in his bed the next morning.

Because illegal GHB is synthesized in clandestine labs using a common
commercial solvent, there is no quality control and no way for a user
to know the strength or safety of any given batch, which may explain
Kyle Hagmann's death. In addition, since it can take the drug up to 30
minutes to have an effect, the user, thinking he needs more before the
drug kicks in, can easily overdose.

The FDA is working hard to eliminate websites that sell GHB or kits
and recipes to make it at home, but it's an uphill struggle. Explains
Dennis Baker, associate commissioner for regulatory affairs at the
FDA, "You've got a website, but where's the location? Where's the
product? These people can ship GHB or the products to make it from
anywhere in the world."

What's the answer? In the end, those using it will need to understand
that the high just isn't worth the risk. "My parents made it very
clear to me that I was not to do drugs," says David Grover, the
teenager in Ridgefield, Conn. "I'd look them in the eye and say,
'Okay, I understand.' Then I'd go off and do drugs. I had to learn the
hard way.