BUST BOOSTS DATE-RAPE DRUG PROFILE

Authorities are expressing new concerns about gamma hydroxybutyrate
(GHB), a drug that has been linked to date rapes, after the making the
largest seizure of the substance recorded in Illinois and finding that
it was manufactured using a recipe found on the Internet.

Sales of GHB were banned by the FDA nearly a decade ago. But
authorities say anyone with a mastery of basic chemistry can
manufacture the dangerous and powerful drug.

Indeed, when police arrested four men last month on charges of
producing the drug, they also made an alarming discovery: seized along
with five gallons of GHB--enough for more than 1,000 doses--was a
step-by-step recipe for manufacturing the drug that had been taken off
the Internet.

"It is a grave concern that it is so easy to get off the Internet,"
said Warren Millsaps, director of the now-defunct Cook County
Metropolitan Enforcement Group, which handled the investigation. "It's
a couple clicks away from somebody knowing how to do it--something we
will not be able to regulate."

While the chemicals called for in the Internet recipe might not be
familiar to everyone or available at the corner store, "any kid who
has taken a class in organic chemistry could probably get these at a
chemical supply house," said Avrom A. Blumberg, a chemistry professor
at DePaul University.

The apparent ease of manufacture might explain why police say they're
getting more reports recently of incidents involving GHB rather than
other date-rape drugs.

GHB has taken its place alongside Rhohypnol, or "roofies," and
Ketamine, or "special K," as a date-rape drug in dance clubs and on
college campuses.

Last month, a 15-year-old girl in Grosse Ile, Mich., died after
someone apparently slipped a dose of the clear, odorless GHB fluid
into her drink at a party, police said.

In the Illinois case, police investigating a woman's claims that GHB
had been used on her set up a sting operation to buy the drug. Michael
Castellano, 29, of Gurnee, Travis Rader, 27, and Mark A. Crawford, 42,
both of Antioch, and Michael D. Brothers, 33, of Kenosha, face various
charges related to the manufacture, possession and intent to deliver
GHB.

The four were indicted by a Lake County grand jury last week and will
appear for preliminary hearings before a Lake County judge later this
month. All four men face 6 to 30 years in prison and a $500,000 fine
if convicted, according to Lake County Assistant State's Atty. Jim
Simonian.

A search warrant served at Crawford's apartment turned up the
ingredients for GHB and the Internet recipe, police said.

Several Web sites offer instructions for making GHB using various
chemicals. Depending on the ratios, the clear syrupy concoction often
is undetectable when mixed into drinks, said Jim Alexander, director
of the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group, which assisted the
Cook County MEG.

Originally conceived as a pre-operative anesthetic and sleep aid, the
Food and Drug Administration never approved GHB and in 1990 ruled that
the drug had no legal use, citing health risks including vomiting,
dizziness, tremors and seizures, FDA spokesman Larry Bachorik said.

To date, no one has been prosecuted for using a date-rape drug to rape
someone--all the prosecutions have been for possession, sale or
manufacture.

"Those (rapes involving the drug) are very difficult to prosecute,"
said Mark Cavins, chief of the sex crimes division of the Cook County
state's attorney's office. "Usually they slip it in someone's drink.
It lowers their inhibitions, raises their desire and libido.
Afterward, their memory is gone. And it disappears from the
bloodstream 8 to 10 hours afterward, so even if you wake up and
immediately go to a hospital, it's very likely the drug will be gone."

Several times a month, a patient is brought in from Chicago dance
clubs with GHB in his or her system, said Northwestern Memorial
Hospital emergency room doctor David Zull. Usually the person has
ingested the drug voluntarily seeking a high, but perhaps a third of
the time they have been "involuntarily poisoned" with it, he said.

"It causes a profound sedation," Zull said. "Patients usually pass out
for 2 to 3 hours at most, in contrast to rhohypnol, the original
date-rape drug, which lasts 8 to 12 hours. You could do general
surgery on (someone with GHB in their system) and they wouldn't
notice. Sometimes they're in a coma. Then they wake up abruptly."

Patients usually wake up with no ill effects beyond amnesia covering
the period of time for which they were out, Zull said.

Doses can vary anywhere from a drop to a tablespoon with the larger
doses causing more problems, including depressing the respiratory
system to the point that a victim may stop breathing.

In the case of Samantha Reid, the 15-year-old Michigan girl who died
last month, she slipped into a coma and died after attending a party
at which GHB was reportedly slipped into drinks, Grosse Ile Police
Chief William Barron said. Police are awaiting toxicology reports to
determine whether GHB caused her death.

The Lake County Council Against Sexual Assault has already fielded two
calls this year from women who believe that men used the drug on them,
said Lynn Nash, director of advocacy for the council.

"It's definitely something we're seeing more and more of," Nash said.
"We're seeing a lot of it on college campuses."

Police advise people who think they might have been victimized by the
drug to get to a hospital or clinic as quickly as possible for urine
tests that can detect sedatives, which often are missed by blood tests.

Lake County authorities have set up a toll-free number to gather
information on people manufacturing or selling illegal drugs,
including date-rape drugs. Tips given to 1-888-MEG-LAKE will be passed
along to the appropriate law enforcement agency.

"We need to get the message out to women, and also to men--it's used
against men in the gay community--that this isn't a joke," said
Charlie Jolie of the Illinois attorney general's office. "People talk
about `slipping a mickie' like it's a joke. But when someone uses this
drug, you're a rapist. With mandatory minimums, you're going to jail
for 6, 7, 8 years."