ELIXIR BECOMES DATE-RAPE KILLER:

Wave of 'kitchen-sink chemistry' breeds deadly drugs, worries parents,
officials

A modern-day "miracle" drug -- hyped to do everything from curing impotence
to building muscles -- is rapidly being unmasked as a killer and a favored
tool of date rapists after the death of a 15- year-old Rockwood girl.

Federal health officials are trying to get GBL and a related drug, GHB, out
of the public's reach. But even if they succeed, some experts worry that
another commonly available chemical sold as a dietary supplement in local
health food stores can be used for the same deadly effect.

That has health and law enforcement officials worried, as a wave of
"kitchen-sink chemistry" breeds a whole new line of deadly drugs and
concerns parents like Joanne McLain of Wyandotte.

"Somebody has to stop people from using this drug or a lot of girls are
going to start dying," said McLain, 35, who has a teen-ager at Gibraltar
Carlson High School.

GBL, sold until a few weeks ago in health food stores with benign names like
RenewTrient, has found a niche among health-conscious body builders who
wouldn't think of taking hard drugs.

It has become a tool of choice among date-rapists, mostly young men, who
slip it undetected into the drinks of women with the hope of rendering them
unable to resist their advances.

"Anybody can mix this stuff and take outrageous amounts of it and not
understand that a percentage will give you a buzz and another five grams
could kill you," said Woodhaven Detective Rob Toth, assigned to the Michigan
State Police narcotics division.

"It is a drug of the '90s that is very prevalent and is creating a lot of
havoc," added Eric Federico, an assistant principal at downriver's Carlson
High School. "Awareness of the drug is key now for schools and society."

Death spurs action

Because GBL can be turned easily into an illegal drug known as GHB, the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration in late January took the first steps to get it
off the market.

Health and law enforcement officials are concerned that resourceful and
desperate home chemists may find other ways to produce GHB, known on the
street by names like Grievous Bodily Harm and Georgia Home Boy.

"Sometimes, trying to ban these things is like chasing your tail," Sterling
Heights Police Chief Thomas Derocha said.

The FDA action came too late to save Samantha Reid, the Rockwood teen-ager
whose Jan. 16 death has spurred action in Lansing and around the nation to
get the drug off shelves and onto the roster of dangerous, medically useless
drugs like heroin.

One suspect in Reid's death, Joshua Cole, 18, told police that the men put
GBL in the drinks of Reid, 15, and two of her friends at a party Jan. 16 on
Grosse Ile.

Chemical transformation

Although the drug might have less serious consequences when taken correctly,
that's not what is happening in college dorms and at high school parties,
students and authorities say.

Turning this euphoria-inducing elixir into a killer is done easily with
household chemicals and recipes available on the Internet.

"They don't know how much can kill you. It doesn't take very much," Toth
said.

GBL is the shorthand name for a compound known to chemists as gamma
butyrolactone. Studied in the 1960s as a potential new anesthetic, the
chemical instead found its major legitimate use as an industrial solvent and
floor stripper.

But taken even in its over-the-counter form, GBL breaks down into a
substance known as gamma hydroxybutyrate or GHB. With common household
chemicals, GBL can be turned into GHB.

GHB, though present in the body in minute quantities, can be a dangerous
sedative that leaves its victims unable to fend off attackers.

In some people, it causes death by shutting down the body's ability to
breathe, sending the victim into convulsions and coma.

After reports of numerous illnesses and a few deaths started trickling in,
the FDA took the unusual step in late January of threatening court
proceedings against makers of products that have GBL unless they pulled them
from the market. Reluctantly, the companies complied.

But some of the supplements can still be found on shelves in health food
stores and in some variety stores catering to teen-agers in Metro Detroit
and across the nation.

"There may be products still out there. I can't say if it is 100 percent
gone," said FDA spokesman Brad Stone. "We believe a vast majority should be
off the market."

'Popular way of deception'

What's still out there, however, is another supplement known as GABA or
gamma aminobutyric acid. GABA is a chemical that occurs naturally in the
brain.

"GABA, GHB, GBL -- all are in a group of substances that have properties of
sedatives, tranquilizers and mild hallucinogenics. Of course, the effects
depend on the dose," said Dr. L.J. Dragovic, Oakland County's medical
examiner.

"In our office, we haven't had any cases, and that's fortunate for us. These
drugs have become a popular way of deception," he said. "They're dangerous,
and I hope we see a statewide decrease in their use."

Like GBL and GHB, GABA is used by body-builders and for the recreational
high it produces. GABA is taken to calm the body, much like valium and other
tranquilizers.

It is used in the treatment of epilepsy and hypertension and is good for a
depressed sex drive because of its ability as a relaxant.

But as a close chemical relative to GHB, GABA has some officials concerned.
Too much GABA can cause increased anxiety, shortness of breath and numbness
around the mouth.

"I would hate to see GABA get publicized," said Woodhaven's Toth. "I hope
kids don't start buying that. It doesn't come with guidelines."

The FDA doesn't know what the real effects of taking large doses of GABA
are, and it urges potential users to be wary of it.

"We don't know the effects of ingesting GABA," said Silvia Calderon, a
chemist working with the FDA. "We know what is normal in the body, but we
don't know what happens if you take more of it."

But some officials wish the FDA would try to find out.

"Somebody," Toth said, "needs to look at the different components and
determine which one is killing the kids."

Detroit News Staff Writer Jeremy Pearce contributed to this report.