RED ALERT ISSUED OVER BLUE NITRO POLICE, S.F. HEALTH OFFICIALS SAY NEW
SUPPLEMENT THAT IS ALL THE RAGE IS DANGER TO PUBLIC

San Francisco police and public health officials have condemned a popular
new dietary supplement known as Blue Nitro that has recently shown up in San
Francisco stores.

Labeling the greenish liquid a public health threat, narcotics officer Lt.
Kitt Crenshaw said Wednesday that shop owners selling the potion would be
asked to voluntarily pull it from their shelves, even though state and
federal drug officials had not declared the product illegal.

Crenshaw said the move by police and Department of Public Health officials
came after research showed that one of the active ingredients in the
product - gamma butyrolactone, or GBL - was so similar to a substance that
is illegal in California that it was considered a precursor, and therefore
just as illegal.

Once ingested, the GBL in Blue Nitro is converted into gamma
hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, a powerful depressant and anesthetic drug that
gained widespread attention as a "date-rape" drug because of its effects.
The state's Controlled Substances Act classifies GHB an illegal substance.

Using GBL in Blue Nitro is nothing more than a "neat way to get around the
law," said Joanne Whitney, director of the drug product services laboratory
at UC-San Francisco.

When combined with even small doses of alcohol or other drugs, GBL can cause
loss of consciousness, suffocation or death, health officials said.

In the past six months, there have been at least 15 GBL-related deaths,
eight attributed to Blue Nitro, according to Jo Ellen Dyer, pharmacist
specialist at the San Francisco division of the California Poison Control
System.

GBL is legally sold in its pure liquid form as a product to strip wax from
linoleum flooring, but in Crenshaw's view, selling a product that contains
GBL with the intent to produce the effects of GHB is not legal. However,
state and federal drug officials must classify the drug as a controlled
substance before police can take action, he said.

District Attorney Terence Hallinan said that even though city officials
might not have the kind of clout that federal and state drug officials had,
it was time to take a closer look at the problem.

"We have to make a determination of what the dangers are and what
(enforcement) alternatives are available to us," he said.'

Barry Hartman, co-owner of Alpha Earth Inc., which manufactures Blue Nitro,
said that his Florida-based company had already been investigated by DEA and
FDA officials in three states since the product was launched in July, and so
far, "they have had no problem with it."

"We don't want people to get hurt either," he said. "And we're not doing
anything wrong here. When it's used according to the directions, it is safe.

"Just because a few people get sick or die, it shouldn't ruin it for
everyone else."

DEA spokeswoman Evelyn James said Blue Nitro was "obviously an area of
concern" after so many problems with it had surfaced, but so far no formal
investigation has been opened into its ingredients.

Janet McDonald, spokeswoman for the FDA in San Francisco, said she could not
comment on what if any investigation of Blue Nitro was under way.

She did say that the office had received "a number of adverse-event reports"
involving products listing GBL as an ingredient and that they were under
review.

"I think the major point here is that consumers need to be reminded that
manufacturers are responsible for making sure that products are safe," she
said, referring to the hundreds of available vitamins, minerals, herbs and
supplements.

Meanwhile, as government officials wrangle over the legality of the product,
it is flying off the shelves of local stores.

Imad Bitar, co-owner of Smoke Plus at the corner of Castro and 18th streets,
said the store was sold out of Blue Nitro Wednesday and that it had been
hard to keep in stock since he started carrying it four weeks ago.

"Tuesday night, some customers came in and bought two and three bottles"
because they feared it might not be available much longer, he said.

He said he would accept the shipment he was expected to receive Thursday,
but said he was still unclear about whether he could legally sell it.

"It's really confusing," he said. "But the minute they (the police) tell me
officially that I can't sell it, I won't. I don't need this headache."

Gloria Calvi, office manager for a A Taste of Leather said that her boss had
decided the store would reject a case of Blue Nitro that was to come in
Thursday.

"We were going to carry it because of all the calls we've been getting," she
said. But after getting word that it was being considered illegal in San
Francisco, she said they had decided to simply refuse the delivery.