BILL INCLUDES SAME PENALTIES FOR 'ROOFIES'

MONTGOMERY - Two years ago, the party drug GHB wasn't even illegal in
Alabama. Now, under legislation promoted by Attorney General Bill
Pryor's office, trafficking in as little as two ounces could bring a
mandatory life sentence, with no chance of parole.

Introduced last week by Sen. Hap Myers, R-Mobile and Rep. Phil
Crigler, R-Irvington, the bill would dramatically stiffen criminal
penalties for dealing GHB, a powerful anti-depressant that can cause
blackouts, comas and, in scattered cases, death. Earlier this month, a
Providence Hospital physician reported treating eight people in 10
days for illnesses associated with ingesting GHB-related drugs.

Distributing the drug to an adult now carries a maximum sentence of 20
years. For someone charged under drug trafficking statues, the
proposed legislation would up the penalty to life without parole if
the amount in question is 56 grams - roughly two ounces - or more. For
lesser amounts, the sentence would range from three years minimum
prison time and a $50,000 fine to 25 years minimum and a $500,000 fine.

"This is a crime that's aimed at the big-time manufacturers," said
Assistant Attorney General Maury Mitchell. "This is the guy that's
above the street-level dealers and that's why the penalties are much
severer."

As the measure is currently drafted, identical penalties would be
imposed for trafficking in Rohypnol or "roofies," a similar drug that
is legally manufactured in the United States for sale abroad.

The standard for a no-parole life sentence would put GHB on a legal
par with heroin in Alabama. Mitchell acknowledged that the threshold
triggering that sentence might seem low, but said it stemmed from
narcotics officers' recommendations and prompted no objections from
the Alabama Department of Public Health.

"Such a very small amount is all it takes to be deadly," he said. "Two
or three drops of the wrong formula will kill you."

Chemically known as gamma-hydroxybutyrate, GHB is a popular party drug
and body-building steroid substitute. Usually sold by the capful in
liquid form, it has attracted extra publicity as a suspected factor in
date rapes, although J.C. Upshaw Downs, director of the state
Department of Forensic Sciences, knew of no convictions in Alabama for
that purpose.

Largely at Pryor's urging, state public health officials agreed to ban
GHB in September 1998, classifying it as a Schedule 1 drug that has no
legitimate medical use and a high potential for abuse.

But the drug is easily manufactured and law enforcement officers say
that abuse is on the upswing. Overall numbers on arrests and
convictions for GHB dealing and possession were not available. But
this year the forensics department has so far handled an estimated 10
cases in which GHB was detected, Downs said, compared to an estimated
30 in all of last year.

In a pending case, one man had more than three gallons, said Johnny
Griffin, a Dothan narcotics agent with the Alabama Bureau of
Investigation, who helped shape the bill. "That's enough to dose the
whole city of Dothan," Griffin said.

If the Legislature approves the measure, it wouldn't have an immediate
effect, Griffin said. Without tougher penalties, police haven't had
the impetus to make cases, he said, and manufacturers risk only the
jail time that would accompany a criminal charge of possessing GHB.

"Shortly, they'll be facing a lot more and maybe it will stop them,"
he said. Mitchell was hopeful the measure will pass. "I haven't heard
any concern about this one. We feel pretty good about its chances."